


Next Town Over

by strawberrylemonade1225



Series: Next Town Over & Stories [2]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Internet Friends, Be More Chill - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, actually the squip, boyf riends — Freeform, but he's not like, yes the squip is here, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-11-22 19:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11386434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylemonade1225/pseuds/strawberrylemonade1225
Summary: Jeremy Heere meets Michael Mell in a game while debating on what his age is. Neither of them thought much of it at first, but little did they know that this would be the spark to something way bigger than either of them would have ever expected.(what is a summary)





	1. I'm assuming you're twelve.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, yes. Be More Chill.  
> I fell in love with this musical (and Michael Mell), and I thought of an au the other day and absolutely wanted to write for it. I'm pretty sure it's been written for before, but that's the thing about creativity! Everyone can add their own twist to something and make it their own!  
> Enough lecturing, I hope you enjoy!!

“Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight,” Michael says, tapping furiously on his controller and cringing at an eleven-year-old screaming with pointless rage. “You expect me to believe that you aren't actually twelve?”  
  
The person with the username i.am.heere squeaks and Michael lets out a short laugh. “I don't see why you even think that!”  
  
“Your voice is pretty high pitched,” he says, but then he shrugs. “You're also pretty good at this game, so I'm guessing you're… fifteen?”  
  
“Well, that's better than twelve at least!” The eleven-year-old on the server shouts again. “If anything, you're the twelve-year-old. Your username is literally weedsocks.”  
  
“I couldn't think of anything better, dude!”  
  
i.am.heere laughs and Michael chews on his lip, focusing more on the game.  
  
“Why'd you even start guessing my age?” the guy asks and they both silently cheer when the kid is booted from the server, along with a few of his “friends”. They're the only two left with voice chat.  
  
“I dunno,” Michael shrugs, ducking away from enemy fire. “Boredom, I guess.”  
  
“Should I try to guess yours too?”  
  
“If you want to, Heere.”  
  
“Okay… weed,” Heere stifles a laugh and continues. “I'd say you're at least fourteen.”  
  
Michael laughs, nearly getting himself killed. “Reasoning?”  
  
“For starters, weedsocks.” Michael may not know who this guy is, but he is not kidding when he says that he could feel the disappointment through the screen. “Secondly, you died not too long ago and you said something along the lines of “This game is fricking bs”, and that is something a thirteen-year-old says.”  
  
“While your arguments are convincing, I'm going to have to break it to you that I'm actually sixteen.”  
  
“Woah, really?” Heere sounds smug. “That's means I'm older than you!”  
  
“Bull shit,” Michael drags on the “l” in bull for longer than needed.  
  
“My birthday was in August. It's September. I'm seventeen while you're still the young age of sixteen.”  
  
“Unbelievable.” He hears a knock on his door and his mom enters, informing him that dinner is done. He nods and turns back to the game. “It has been a fun time, Heere, but all good times must come to an end. Maybe I'll run into you again?”  
  
“...Maybe.” Heere seems disappointed again, but Michael doesn't pick up on it as he signs off and starts heading upstairs.  
  
His mind switches from gaming to dinner so quickly that he forgets about the entire conversation rather quickly, the memory is almost completely gone by the time he lays down to sleep that night.  
  
***  
  
Jeremy walks into his class only two seconds before the late bell, earning him an annoyed look from his teacher. He pays no mind to it as he heads to his seat, plopping down into it and dropping his bag on the ground, already tuning out of the lesson.  
  
For some reason, the dude with the username weedsocks had taken up a lot of his daydreaming time. He thought it was really stupid since he didn't even know the guy and the fact that his username was what it was.  
  
For some reason, he just… found him really interesting. He couldn't help but hope that they would end up playing together again tonight.  
  
Before he knew it, that class was over, and it was only a short amount of time before lunch. When it was finally lunch time, he darted out of his class and arrived at lunch before everyone else.  
  
Jeremy honestly didn't know how he got to be lucky enough to even have people to sit with. He was anti-social as all hell, not to mention his killer anxiety. He guesses he has Rich to thank for his current friends, a group that would be a lot louder if Rich still went to their school.  
  
He had moved to the town over a month before Junior year started, and while that wasn't a far distance away, it still required him changing schools. Everything was cool though, the distance from Jeremy's house to Rich’s house changing from two minutes to ten minutes. Besides that, Rich had already befriended a kid named Michael and Michael's friend named Chloe. He also mentioned some girl named Jenna, but Jeremy didn't know too much about it.  
  
Jeremy realized he had been spacing off for too long when someone snapped their fingers in front of his face. He jumped and glared at Brooke who hid a giggle behind her hand. She sat down next to him, and that's when Jeremy noticed that Christine and Jake were already sitting across from him. He smiles sheepishly and greets them.  
  
“Seriously, where were you, dude?” Jake asks. “I was gonna throw water on you but Christine held me back.”  
  
“And I'm glad I did,” she says then, and Jeremy smiles at her, face flushing pink.  
  
Jeremy may have still had a small crush on her. His crush on her used to be huge, but it had started dying out as he got to know her. It's not that he didn't like her, in fact, he loved her, but it was only platonic. It's just that he realized that his crush wasn't exactly strong and that he just had it because “wow! a pretty girl I might have a chance with!” Now it was more of an “If you're down, I'm down, but we're just friends” kind of relationship in his eyes, and he'd honestly just want to keep it there.  
  
“Jeremy Heere!”  
  
He jolted again, looking over at Brooke with wide eyes. This time she didn't bother hiding a laugh, but it cut off short with a question.  
  
“Why are you so out of it today?” she asked and Jeremy shrugged. He honestly had no idea as to why he was so distracted. He had one lead, and it was still the guy playing video games, but there was no real reason to support the fact that he could not for the life of him pay attention to anything.  
  
“What, did you watch a porno and- Ow!”  
  
“Jake! No!”  
  
Jeremy and Brooke laugh at the exchange, Jeremy's laugh more awkward and forced as his face turns red. He hears Jake start to make a comment about it but he coughs loudly and switches the topic.  
  
“Has Rich told you guys about his plan?” he loudly asks and they give him a confused look. “He said that we should meet up in December at the mall and meet his other friends.”  
  
“Why so far ahead?”  
  
“I'd assume Christmas shopping,” Brooke says and Christine nods with understanding.  
  
“I'm excited to meet this Jenna girl. I hear that she's… something.”  
  
“I think the Michael dude is a nerd like you, Jer,” Jake says and Jeremy shrugs again, a smile on his face.  
  
“Guess we'll have to see.”  
  
***  
  
Michael logs into his account to see a pending friend request from i.am.heere. It elicits a small smile and he accepts it quickly, typing out a message.  
  
**weedsocks: You couldn't resist my charm, huh?**  
  
He gets a response way quicker than he imagined, so the noise makes him jump and open it.  
  
**i.am.heere: How could anyone resist your charm, Weed**  
  
**weedsocks: Ikr**  
**weedsocks: Real talk, do you have a phone or something? This way of messaging is annoying**  
  
The next message sent is the guy's phone number and Michael pulls out his own phone, adding the number to his contacts and changing the contact name to “Heere”. He types out a message to make sure he got it right.  
  
**me: I didn't expect to get your number out of you so easily**  
  
**Heere: I'm going to assume that this is weedsocks**  
  
**me: you would be correct, my dear sir**  
  
**Heere: Hey, do you have a name you want me to set for your contact name?**  
  
**me: Are you asking me for my name?**  
**me: How can I be sure you won't try to look me up?**  
**me: What if you're secretly 40 years old?**  
  
**Heere: !!!Calm down!!!**  
  
Michael snickers at the responses to his drama.  
  
**Heere: I can't have a contact on my phone that is just “Weed”!!**  
**Heere: What if people think I do…**  
**Heere: ...drugs?**  
  
**me: I'm kidding dude. You sound like a seventeen-year-old and there isn't that much stalking you can even do with just my first name. It's Michael**  
**me: I expect your name in return…?**  
  
The response took a minute and it had Michael wondering if Heere forgot his own name because he could see that he had read his messages.  
  
**Heere: I'm Jeremy**  
  
The name sounded familiar to Michael and he could place his finger on why. He just brushed it off and changed his contact name to Jeremy.  
  
**me: let me guess…. Heere is your last name?**  
  
The lack of a response gives him his answer and he laughs.  
  
**me: Did you seriously use your last name for a username?? That's dangerous Jeremy!**  
  
**Jeremy: shut it weedsocks!!!**  
**Jeremy: ...do you want to play Apocalypse of the Damned now?**  
  
**me: Never thought you'd ask!**  
  
Michael put his phone down, setting up his headset and adding Jeremy to a party so it would be the two of them talking to one another and playing. They played for a long time, talking about nothing really, laughing at nothing really, and by the time they said their goodbyes, Michael was shocked to find out that it was night already. He had spent the majority of the day talking to this guy he just met, over a video game nonetheless. He smiled to himself as he turned off his console, already hearing a ping from his phone telling him that Jeremy had texted him, and headed upstairs for the night.


	2. Happy one month of friendship!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy and Michael grow closer over a month of time. Also, Rich is definitely up to something.

One week later and Michael has officially sent more texts than he ever has before on his phone.  
  
Yes, he did text his friends at school and his parents, but he preferred talking to them face to face instead of over the phone. But, considering the situation, he couldn't exactly talk to Jeremy face to face.  
  
Speaking of Jeremy, his phone lit up with a notification and he suppressed a smile, unlocking his phone underneath his desk as the teacher droned on about a book they had to read. He couldn't stop the smile on his face after he read the message and he quickly shut off his phone when he felt a tap on his shoulder.  
  
He turned his head to see his semi-new friend Rich giving him a confused look and sliding him a note.  
  
**Why are you staring at your crotch bro**  
  
He gave Rich a look before writing back.  
  
**I'll explain at lunch**  
  
Rich gave him a flat look before flashing a thumbs up and Michael turned back around, trying to keep his attention on the teacher, but failing when his phone lit up again. He was just very easily distracted.  
  
He should have expected Rich to start shouting about it as soon as they were let out of class from lunch.  
  
“Were you on your phone? You have a phone?!” he questioned and Michael squinted at him.  
  
“You have my phone number.”  
  
“Yeah but you never respond to texts!” he complained and Michael nodded. “Who has you actually responding?”  
  
“Just this guy I met,” he explains and Rich wiggles his eyebrows. “No! Not like that, geez.”  
  
“Hey, hey, as your token bisexual friend, I will assume the best for you.”  
  
“I'm not- stop. I just met him playing a video game and he messaged me afterward, and now we're friends.”  
  
They entered the lunchroom grabbing their food and sitting down. Chloe was already at their table but she paid them no mind as she continued talking to her other friends.  
  
“Have you gotten his name?”  
  
“It's Jeremy,” Michael responds and Rich stops talking for a second and looks at him.  
  
“You said you met him playing a video game, right? What game was it?”  
  
“Apocalypse of the Damned…? Why?”  
  
Rich looked like he had just reached some realization and he shook his head. He tried to look nonchalant but he was unable to wipe the grin off his face. “I thought you were talking of someone else. Nevermind.”  
  
“...okay…”  
  
Michael still gave him a squinted look before just deciding to ignore that look. He may not have known Rich for long, but he did know that that look wasn't exactly a good one. It would be best if he just ignored it and continued on with his day.  
  
***  
  
“Hey,” Jeremy greeted, already smiling for no real reason. Michael hadn't even said anything yet.  
  
“Yo. You know, you almost got me in trouble today.”  
  
“What? How?”  
  
“I forgot to turn off my notification sound and you kept texting me back to back. What the hell were you freaking out about?”  
  
“Oh… that… hah,” Jeremy said, awkwardly. “Well, my friend wants me to audition for the school play with her. I did it once before, but it was shit, so I didn't really want to do it again and I wanted your opinion on it. I decided to audition anyway and deleted the messages.”  
  
“Oh, so is that why when I unlocked my phone I saw no new messages?” Michael asked and Jeremy confirmed. Michael sighed. “I thought I was going insane, Jere-bear.”  
  
“J-Jere-bear?” Jeremy asked, his eyes widening and his face flushing a little. He tried and failed to duck away from a zombie and completely failed, being knocked over anyway. He muttered a curse under his breath.  
  
“Yup.” Michael popped the “p” and saved Jeremy's character. “I was gonna call you Jer, but that's too common. I thought of calling you Heere, but now that I know that's your last name it just sounds stupid. Obviously, after my long internal debate, Jere-bear was the only option left.”  
  
“Oh,” he squeaked. “Okay.”  
  
“I hope that's okay…?” Michael sounded unsure and Jeremy was quick to reassure him.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, it's cool. Fine. Okay.”  
  
Michael laughed at his nervousness, which also caused Jeremy to start laughing. The laughter died down after a bit of time and Jeremy said the first thing that came to mind.  
  
“I'm, um, glad that I met you, Michael,” he said and Michael awed from the other end. “Shut up!”  
  
“Getting sentimental for two weeks, Jeremy.”  
  
“Well, I mean… you're one of the only people I can like… talk about video games and nerdy stuff, as my friends call it. I just am glad to be your friend and oh God I'm making this awkward-”  
  
“No… no, it's okay,” Jeremy hears Michael say, and he swears that he hears fondness in his words. “I'm happy that I met you too.”  
  
“Okay. Cool.”  
  
“Cool.”  
  
Both Jeremy and Michael die due to being distracted and Michael shouts out of anger. “I'm going to break this freaking CD, I swear!”  
  
Jeremy barks out a laugh that develops more from there, Michael joining on in the laughter, the awkward atmosphere dissolving into an easygoing on full of laughter and just happiness.  
  
***  
  
**Rich: Okay, no, you don't get it; I'm 110% sure you and Michael would hit it off**  
  
Jeremy stares at the text and chews on his lip. He's not supposed to even be on his phone right now; he's sitting in the audience watching auditions, having already auditioned himself.  
  
**me: I don't know why you're so sure about this**  
**me: I don't even know what he's like**  
  
**Rich: You probably know more than you think**  
  
Jeremy is really confused by the reply and he goes to question Rich before the message is suddenly deleted. He goes through with the question anyway.  
  
**me: What does that mean?**  
  
**Rich: What does what mean?**  
  
**me: You know what I'm talking about.**  
  
A minute passes.  
  
**me: Don't you leave me on** read  
  
Five minutes pass.  
  
**me: Richard!!!**  
  
“Thank you all for auditioning, for it was lovely,” Mr. Reyes drones what he says each time The first auditions are completed. “The roles will be posted tomorrow afternoon, please look at them to see your placement. Dismissed.”  
  
The small group of students leave the auditorium, Jeremy leaving with Christine, who is bubbly and excited about the play. Jeremy, on the other hand, felt a bit of anxiety in the pit of his stomach from what Rich had said. It was confusing and kind of ominous and Jeremy just wanted an explanation.  
  
“Jeremy? Are you listening?” Jeremy tunes back into Christine to see her pouting at him. He awkwardly laughs and rubs the back of his neck. She huffs and puts her hands her hips, glaring at him. “Okay, you have to tell me what has been taking up so much of your mind lately.”  
  
They stepped outside of the school, turning in the direction of their houses.  
  
“Okay, well, I have a new friend,” he says and Christine breaks her glare to smile.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Y-You don't have to sound so shocked!”  
  
Christine giggles. “What's their name?”  
  
“Michael. We met through a video game. He calls me Jere-bear,” Jeremy overshares and Christine looks at him with a surprised look.  
  
“‘Jere-bear’?”  
  
“He needed a nickname for me, okay!”  
  
“You're red, Jeremy,” she points out.  
  
“We are friends, Christine. Just friends.”  
  
“Alright, alright,” she laughs and directs a look that makes Jeremy uneasy at him. “Just if it ever becomes more you can talk to me about it.”  
  
“Please stop…” Jeremy covered his face with his hands.  
  
***  
  
Michael was walking home from school one day when his ringtone blared from his phone. No one ever usually called him, so it scared him quite a lot. He pulled out his phone and was even more surprised to see Jeremy’s contact name. He thought something bad must’ve happened so he answered it quickly.  
  
“Hello?”  
  
“Hey!” Jeremy sounded fine, happy even. The worry in Michael’s gut eased some. He’d wonder later why he even got that worried in the first place.  
  
“Hey, dude, what’s up? You scared me shitless by calling me.”  
  
“Oh, sorry. Should I not call?”  
  
“No, no, call as much as you want to. I just wasn’t expecting it, you know?” he reassured. “What did you call for anyway?”

  
“Oh. Well. I just. Um,” Jeremy stuttered and Michael smiled. He had started to recognize that Jeremy stuttered a lot, whether he was nervous, scared, or even just excited.  
  
“Spit it out.”  
  
“Happy one month of friendship,” he finally said, although it sounded more like a question. Michael pulled away his phone to check the date, and his phone read October 17th. He didn’t remember the exact date that they had become friends, but he does know that it was in the middle of September.  
  
“Aw, you remembered the exact date?” he laughs and Jeremy tries to stutter through a reply. “That’s so cute, Jere-bear!”  
  
“Hhhhhh,” is all that Jeremy can get out and Michael laughs harder.  
  
“I’d love to continue this conversation, but I have to hang up now. Talk to you later?”  
  
“Talk to you later,” Jeremy replies, his voice quieter than usual and Michael grins as he hangs up. He puts his phone in his pocket, his okay mood from earlier brightening a bit. He continues down the road before stopping at a Seven Eleven, walking in and heading towards the slushy machine.  
  
There’s a boy there already, taller than him but not by much. His face is red, but it seems to be fading by now. A fleeting thought that he is cute passed through Michael’s mind, but he doesn’t think about it for much more. The boy looks in his direction too, and Michael gives him one of those smiles that people give to strangers. The boy smiles back, and Michael definitely registers the smile as cute, but before he can say anything, the boy is rushing away. Michael just hums to himself before plugging in his earbuds, turning on music, getting his slushy and leaving.  
  
***  
  
Jeremy’s face is burning by the time the call ends. He knows he must look like a mess as he heads into the Seven Eleven. He walks back to the slushy machine and looks at the flavor options.  
  
Now, why did he decide to call Michael? He could’ve texted him or just waited until they were playing video games later instead of immediately calling him when he remembered. All he managed to do was make a fool of himself and say, what, three comprehensible sentences. He did make Michael laugh, which was a goal, an easy one, but still a goal. He liked Michael’s laugh.  
  
His eyes widen when he thinks that and his face burns again. He doesn’t only look a mess, he is a mess as well. Great. Aaand this is all happening in the back of a Seven Eleven. Even better.  
  
The bell for the door rings, symbolizing someone entered and that person walks back to where Jeremy is. He looks over to him after a few seconds, seeing a guy that looks to be his age standing there. He smiles at Jeremy in greeting, and Jeremy smiles back on instinct but rushes away right after without even buying anything. He leaves the store and starts walking quickly to his house.  
  
The boy was cute, no doubt about that. What confused and surprised him was how much attention his mind put to that detail. Actually what had him so confused lately was the attention his mind was putting towards Michael and cute boys in general.  
  
Jeremy’s face turned to one of complete and utter surprise when he realized what this might mean. He pulled out his phone and dialed Rich’s number, biting his lip all the while.


	3. You're actually really cute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy learns more about himself, Michael and Jeremy see each other for the "first time", and Rich doesn't know how much longer he can stay quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I originally wrote this, I had used the word confused so much, oh my God.  
> Anyway, happy reading!!

Jeremy didn't want to exaggerate how he was feeling while waiting for Rich to show up, but he believes that he can describe it as anxiety on one side of his room and confusion on the other, them playing tug-of-war with his body and leaving him pacing back and forth and chewing his nails.  
  
(Okay, so maybe he did exaggerate a bit.)  
  
“Jeremy, there's someone here for you!” his dad called up the stairs, causing Jeremy to dash downstairs and go to the front door. However, who he expected to be there was not there.  
  
“Hey,” Christine greeted and Jeremy motioned for her to come in with a puzzled look on his face. She recognized it and explained. “You were expecting Rich, right? Well, I don't mean to intrude if it's not my business, but what he told me made it seem like you were in trouble, and as the Vice-president of the Jeremy Heere Protection Squad, I had to show up as well.”  
  
“The… The Vice-president of what now?”  
  
“The Jeremy Heere Protection Squad.” She smiled and followed Jeremy upstairs. “JHPS for short.”  
  
That much made Jeremy crack a smile. It didn't last for too long, for as soon as Christine sat down, Jeremy was back to pacing from wall to wall. Christine just watched him with a blank look before speaking up again.  
  
“You're sweating. How serious is it?” she asks and Jeremy presses a hand to his forehead and sure enough, he is sweating. And it's not even hot.  
  
“Uh…” he starts intelligently. He holds his hands up and pulls them apart to attempt to show the size. “Sorta life changing?”  
  
“Woah.”  
  
“Yeah,” Jeremy nods and his door slams open, leaving Jeremy to scream and jump up. Rich stands in the doorway clutching his stomach and laughing.  
  
“Oh… my god..!” he gets out between laughs, shutting the door behind him and sitting next to Christine. “That was the best thing I've seen today, holy shit!”  
  
“ _Why?!_ ” Jeremy near shouts, clutching his heart. Rich nudges Christine with a grin on his face.  
  
“Good going on getting this drama queen to audition for the play.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
“Hey, bro,” Rich says, turning to look at Jeremy. “Your dad went out for stuff. I don't know the details. My point is to just shout your problems out cause it's better to just let that shit out.”  
  
Jeremy took a shaky breath and stood in front of them, staring at the ground. He muttered out what he wanted to say, too nervous to say it loud enough.  
  
“What did you say?” Christine asks and Jeremy mutters it again, only a little bit louder.  
  
“Dude, we're here for you.”  
  
“Don't you mean _heere_?”  
  
Rich gives Christine a flat look.  
  
“ _My point is,_ ” he starts, looking at Jeremy with an intense look. “No matter what you tell us we'll be here for you. Like, if you tell me you murdered a man, I'll help you hide the body. Unless it's like, Jake, or something. Then I'll be a little pissed off, but, ya know.”  
  
Despite the speech being less than serious, it helps to calm down the shaking in Jeremy’s hands. Besides, if anyone could understand him, it was Rich and Christine. He could tell them.

“I, uh, I... “ He took a breath. “I have recently… have… found boys cute and attractive?”

"Holy shit bro! Congrats on finding out that you like di-"

" _Rich!"_

"What?"

" _Anyway,_ " Jeremy cut in and gulped. "I also have a crush on one of my friends."

Christine had a surprised look on her face and Jeremy didn't know how to interpret Rich’s facial expression, but he didn't need to when he opened his mouth.  
  
“Look, dude, you're cool and all, well, kind of, but I hope it isn't on me cause I already have this thing for Jake and-”  
  
“No, no, no, not at all!” Jeremy waved his hands as if symbolizing no. “Besides, I don't even know if it's for sure a crush yet, oh my God.”  
  
“Oh. A’ight.”  
  
“Wait a second, Jeremy Heere,” Christine cut in, and the way she said it had Jeremy's palms sweating. “Is this mystery crush on your internet friend.”  
  
“ _No!_ ” Aaand Jeremy responded too quickly and loudly, which means that he was caught. Rich turns and looks at Christine. He looks confused, but Jeremy swears he sees something else there.  
  
“He has an internet friend?”  
  
“Yep. They met a while ago.”  
  
“What's their name?” Rich looks at Jeremy now and Jeremy stutters out Michael's name. Rich looks surprised and Jeremy becomes red.  
  
“You don't have to be so surprised that I made a friend!” he shouts and Rich nods slowly.  
  
“...Yeah… that's why I was surprised…” he mutters and Jeremy almost didn't hear it. He just ignored it.  
  
“I just… I just like talking to him and stuff. He's easy to talk to, like you guys, but I just… I don't know. We barely know each other, I'm probably overreacting. The… the boy thing though, I'm sure of, and I know I'm not gay because of…” Jeremy makes a gesture towards Christine and she smiles sweetly. “And Brooke.”  
  
“So, what, you're bi?” Rich asks and Jeremy hesitates before nodding slowly and Rich becomes bright, grinning widely. “Sweet! Oh my God, we can be called Bi Bros! It's catchy and it shows people that they may have a chance with us.”  
  
Jeremy buries his face in his hands and whines. His entire face feels like it's on fire. He takes a seat at his desk chair as Rich rambles on. He looks up to see Christine joining in on the plans and he smiles despite his embarrassment.  
  
“Thank you for being here for me guys,” he thanks and Rich looks at him with a serious look and crosses his middle and index finger.  
  
“Like I told you, bro, I'm here for you for anything. Plus now we can talk about boys.” Rich grinned slyly. “Okay, so, I was hanging out with Jake this weekend and he was wearing these jeans, right, and they-”  
  
“That's my cue to leave,” Christine says, standing up. She walks over to Jeremy and hugs him. “I'm glad you're starting to understand yourself.”  
  
“Me too.” He hugs her back and watches her leave. He looks back towards Rich and he's looking at him expectantly. Jeremy sighs. “So, Jake’s jeans?”  
  
Rich lights up again. “He got up and I had to fan myself because of _that ass_ …”  
  
***  
  
It was already quite late when Jeremy finally texted Michael.  
  
Michael would like to say that he had more grace than just diving for his phone, but he'd be lying. He just hadn't talked to Jeremy much that except for a few quick texts during classes. Michael wanted to talk to him more.  
  
That scared Michael in a way; he had only known Jeremy Heere for a month and one week by that point, yet he already felt so close to him. He was easy to talk to, and he was funny. Plus, Michael could talk to him about something that excited him and Jeremy would listen to him talk and ask questions. He was sweet like that.  
  
Michael would call himself a close friend to Jeremy, despite the short amount of time of friendship. They usually talked a lot, and Michael didn't know what he'd do if Jeremy just… disappeared.  
  
Michael bottled up these feelings and pushed down his worries; he didn't know why he felt this strongly, and he doubted Jeremy felt the same, so he ignored it all. He opened up Jeremy’s text, smiling at what he said.  
  
**Jer-Bear: Do you happen to have a Skype?**  
  
**me: I do…**  
**me: It’s the same as my username**  
  
**Jer-Bear: Cool. Same here**  
  
After a minute he got the notification sound for Skype, seeing that Jeremy had added him. He accepted it and Jeremy texted him again.  
  
**Jer-Bear: Would you maybe want to call?**  
  
**me: Video or audio?**  
  
**Jer-Bear: Either one**  
  
Michael bit his lip. He opened his phone's camera to check how he looked and when he was satisfied, he set his phone up so it leaned against the wall at an okay angle. He felt nerves shaking his hands and he shook them out, puffing out a breath as well.  
  
_Why am I so nervous?_ He thought to himself, and then he opened the Skype app. _Right. I'm about to see Jeremy for the first time._  
  
He called Jeremy regularly, and Jeremy picked up right away. It calmed him down a bit because it seemed as if Jeremy was as nervous as he was. It was a sort of big thing.  
  
Michael just hoped it wouldn't be revealed that he had been talking to an old man this whole time. (He didn't think that would be the case, though.)  
  
“H-Hey,” Jeremy says and Michael's chest warms a little bit. “So just audio?”  
  
“No, um… I want to turn it on, just…”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Can you-”  
  
“I can turn mine on first, if you want,” Jeremy cuts him off and Michael nods before realizing that Jeremy can't see him yet.  
  
“...Could you?”  
  
Jeremy answers by turning on his camera. Michael, obviously, was not mentally prepared enough for this.  
  
Jeremy is chewing on his lip and his posture was tense. He wore a white t-shirt with Pacman on it. The quality for Skype made the overall picture fuzzy, but Michael could make out slightly curly brown hair and blue eyes. Also, he could make out the fact that Jeremy was very cute.  
  
Michael's face burned from just looking at the nervous boy.  
  
“M… Michael?” Jeremy asked, and Michael coughed loudly. At least they weren't together in real life, otherwise Michael would've been caught checking Jeremy out.  
  
“Woah,” he breathed and Jeremy's face flushed a little.  
  
“What did you say?” he asks and Michael blurts the first thing on his mind.  
  
“You're really cute… like… really cute,” Michael blurts and Jeremy's face turns bright red. His mouth drops open and he turns his face to the side, covering half his face with his hand. And, holy shit, that must've been one of the cutest things Michael has even seen. His entire chest warms and he grins stupidly.  
  
“Well, t-turn on your camera!”  
  
***  
  
“...Okay.”  
  
Jeremy takes a deep breath and tries to calm down before Michael switches his camera on. Apparently, Michael doesn't care if he has a heart attack or not because Jeremy can see Michael a few seconds later.  
  
Oh, _God_.  
  
Michael is grinning and looking into the camera and Jeremy’s eyes widen.  
  
He has a small gap between his teeth (when did Jeremy find _that_ cute?) and glasses. His eyes are bright and his hair is messy. He has headphones covering his ears and a red hoodie on. He has tan skin with dark brown hair and eyes, and Jeremy is _gone_.  
  
He had confirmed his crush on Michael that morning, and he was so distracted by that, that being the reason he hadn't texted Michael as often as usual. Now his crush had just be amplified by at least twenty.  
  
Jeremy is biting his lip again, more like chewing it, and his palms are sweating again. Michael grins even wider and his words come out quieter than usual.  
  
“Well?” he prompts and Jeremy lets out a breath.  
  
“Wow. I… wow.”  
  
Michael laughs and Jeremy sucks in another breath. “That good, huh?”  
  
“Yes. Definitely.”  
  
Jeremy is glad to see he isn't alone in this nervousness when Michael's grin falters a bit and his face burns. Jeremy begins to smile then too. A silence develops between them where they’re just looking at each other before Michael decides to break it.  
  
“Well, I’m glad to see that you aren’t an eighty-year-old man.”  
  
The statement is so out of place that it causes Jeremy to burst into laughter. He covers his mouth and looks at Michael to see the blush return full force. “M-Michael…! Seriously?”  
  
“Well, I mean, it’s a genuine concern.” Michael shrugs and adjusts his camera.  
  
“Why would an eighty-year-old man play Apocalypse of the Damned? And be good at it?”  
  
“I wouldn’t say you’re good necessarily…”  
  
“Hey!”  
  
Michael laughs and waves his hand as if to say “I’m kidding”. Jeremy flushes again, loving Michael’s laugh initially and loving to see it even more. He can’t seem to wipe the smile off his face.  
  
“Why’d you text me so late?” Michael randomly asks and Jeremy bites his lip, searching for an answer. He can’t exactly say “I was so distracted by you that I forgot to text you”.  
  
“I had a lot of homework today. We got a new book to read, and I had to read quite a lot of it today.” It’s not necessarily a lie; he did have to read a lot of the book today, but he had to read it during class.  
  
“Okay,” Michael says, and he looks off to the side as if he’s debating on saying something. “I missed you.”  
  
“Awww, Michael!” Jeremy teases and Michael turns red, muttering “shut up”. “I’ll text you extra tomorrow to make up for it. Cool?”  
  
“Cool,” Michael agrees. He leans closer to his phone and then he sits back again. “It’s actually pretty late. We should hang up.”  
  
“...I don’t want to hang up.”  
  
Michael laughs again, crossing his arms and leaning his head to the side. “So… what? Are we gonna keep the call going until one of us falls asleep.”  
  
Jeremy thinks for a second before shrugging. “I don’t see why not.”  
  
“We both have school tomorrow.”  
  
“So?”  
  
“Good point.”  
  
***  
  
“Michael, you look like shit.”  
  
“Thank you, Chlo,” he yawns, sitting down at the table and putting his head on the table.  
  
“Did you not sleep or something?”  
  
“You remember my friend Jeremy?”  
  
“Your nerdy internet friend?”  
  
Michael gave her a flat look. “Yes, him.”  
  
“What about him?”  
  
“We skyped for the first time yesterday,” he says and Chloe gives him a thumbs up. “Skyping meant neither of us wanted to hang up, which also meant I got to see a sleepy Jeremy, which, mind you, is fricking adorable, and then we both eventually fell asleep.”  
  
“Aw, gay,” she croons and Michael nods. He’s about to reply when Jenna sits down next to Chloe.  
  
“I heard that you have a crush?” she prompts and Michael gives her a “how” look. She looks at Chloe and at Rich who is approaching the table. “Your two closest friends are Chloe and Rich. Two people who are _not_ quiet.”  
  
Michael shrugs and nods.  
  
“On who?” Rich has sat down by then.  
  
“You wouldn’t know him. His name is Jeremy.”  
  
“Oh, I-” Jenna looks at Rich who is shaking his head rapidly. “-don’t know him, actually. Darn.”  
  
Michael gives both Jenna and Rich confused looks. He knows that something is definitely going on, but he’s too tired and too happy to care. He drops his forehead on the table again.  
  
“I don’t care what you two are planning; just wake me up when the period is over.”  
  
***  
  
Jeremy is exhausted but he feels like he is floating on cloud nine. He drops down onto his seat during lunch and he still has a smile on his face. He’s the last one to the table as well, meaning everyone is giving him a look when he looks around.  
  
“What?”  
  
“What happened to make you so happy?” Jake asks and Jeremy sighs.  
  
“Two things, actually… one, I’m bi,” he blurts out and Jake just says “dude, same”. “Secondly, you guys remember Michael, right?”  
  
They all nod and Jeremy continues. “I skyped him for the first time yesterday and we talked for nearly the whole night. We weren’t even playing video games or anything! And there were like, no awkward silences. It was great.”  
  
“Jeremy, that’s so cute!” Brooke exclaims. “Did you tell him you have a crush on him?”  
  
“ _How did you know that?!_ ” Jeremy near shouts and earns a glare from the people at the table next to them. Jake gives him a flat look.  
  
“Dude, you’re so obvious,” he says and Christine nods her head. Jeremy huffs and looks away as his face reddens.  
  
“...No, I didn’t tell him I liked him,” he admits and Brooke smacks his arm with no real force behind it.  
  
“You have to. Look how much you like him.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
***  
  
Rich is going to kick both Jeremy and Michael’s asses if they text him about their crush on the other one one more time. It takes so much self-restraint to keep from spilling the secret that he knows the both of them, and he knows that they’re probably going to be mad at him (for a small amount of time) when the secret is finally revealed, but it will be so worth it.  
  
Still, though, it’s hard and annoying to do, especially when December felt like it was so far away. He just had to keep reminding himself that it would be better to just wait until then. He’s just shocked that they have never seen each other before this moment, especially when they literally lived _eleven minutes away from each other._  
  
Rich sighed heavily and rolled onto his side, opening his texts with Michael to see a picture of Jeremy that Rich had seen a thousand times on his Facebook. Michael had also captioned the picture intelligently with “AAAAAAAaaaAAa??? ?”  
  
Rich then opened his texts with Jeremy, seeing that he had also sent a picture of Michael off his Facebook and captioned it with “WHAT THE HELL??”.  
  
He had to restrain himself from throwing his phone across the room, dragging Michael out of his house and throwing him at Jeremy’s house. Mind you, it took _a lot_ of self-restraint.


	4. Things aren't perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Jeremy are still only teenagers living in an imperfect world. Besides that, Rich is super excited to make his action plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a not at all healthy father-son relationship.  
> I'm so excited to write the next chapter it's unbelievable.

****

Jeremy and Michael have been friends for over two months now. Jeremy would know; he had started to write down the date on his calendar. He seriously hadn't thought that the friendship would survive this long, the last internet friendship he had dying out and hurting him severely. This friendship just made him feel warm and safe. It was weird, but he also couldn't get enough of it.

Okay, so maybe he wanted to see Michael face to face. It was far-fetched, that much he knew, but his heart thudded painfully whenever he thought of the possibility.

Of course, he wasn't going to ask Michael for his location; that was a new level of creepy. He would just… hope that they lived at least semi near each other. (He would try a tactic that was a little less depressing, but that's all he had right now.)

Well, while he couldn't see Michael in real life, he would stick to Skype. At least they had that going for them. In fact, he went to call him when there was a knock at his door. Jeremy looked over his shoulder and shouted “come in”, his dad opening the door with a smile on his face.

“Hey, Cadet,” he greets and Jeremy turns fully around, facing him. He smiles, but it's strained and awkward.

Their relationship was… rocky, to say the least. It had been that way since Jeremy's mom left, the house of three going down to two pulling the connection between him and his father tight. It felt as if one wrong move would make it snap, so neither of them tried to fix it. They just avoided it at most. It had been getting better, but slowly. There had been a point of a lot of recoveries after the failed internet friend situation, but not much more.

Jeremy just wanted things to go back to how they were.

“I was thinking that we take a drive, you know, just you and I,” his dad stepped further into the room. “Like old times?”

Jeremy looked at his phone before putting it in his pocket and smiling a small smile at his dad.

“Yeah. I'd like that.”

His dad smiled back at him and that was how Jeremy found himself in his father's truck, driving towards outskirts of the town and into more wooded areas. They came upon a lake and forest, his dad stopping the car and stepping out.

“Let's just sit here for a bit.” His dad looked around and scratched his neck as if the forests would help him decide what to say. “We can just talk.”

Jeremy nods and they go towards the edge of the lake, sitting down on the dirt and looking out. Neither of them says anything for a long time, the air around them awkward and tense. It's a large step to even be spending time together like this, so having a full blown conversation was an impossible leap.

“So, how has school been?”

Jeremy really needed to stop believing that everything was impossible.

“It's been good. Also a lot quieter since Rich moved,” he replied and his dad chuckled.

“I would guess so. I can tell every time you've invited him over from a mile away. I see your grades have gotten better…?”

“They have.” Jeremy's dad makes a prompting motion and he continues. “I just… have a lot of supportive friends.”

His mind leads back to Michael as it always does these days and his smile turns embarrassed as his face reddens. His dad seems to catch on and he smiles slyly.

“Jeremiah Heere, are you telling me your grades improved because you wanted to impress a girl?”

Jeremy looked down from his father and at the lake. His hands were sweating and his heart was pounding. He wanted to tell his dad, he just didn't know how he would react. He would like to think that he would be supportive, but how much did he really know?

“Jeremy?” his dad called softly, seeing the drastic mood change. His son had gone from embarrassed to racked with nerves in a matter of seconds, and it was worrying him.

“What if I told you,” Jeremy started quietly, eyed trained on the lake, “that it was to impress a boy…?”

“Well, I'd like to know who the lucky guy is.”

Jeremy’s eyes darted up from the lake and over to his dad, who was smiling fondly at him. A smile started to come over his own face.

“You're okay with that?”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“It's just… I didn't know-”

“Jeremy,” his dad started, holding up a hand to tell him to stop. “You're my son, and I don't want you to be afraid to tell me things. I'll love you regardless of what you have to tell me.”

Jeremy felt himself tearing up and he sniffled. “Thank you, dad.”

“Hey, no tears, today is a good day.” Jeremy nodded and wiped his eyes. “Now, who is this boy?”

Jeremy didn't know if he could say he was an internet friend, but he didn't know if he could lie to his dad. He debated it for a few seconds before going with the truth. “His name is Michael. I met him while playing a video game.”

“...An internet friend?”

“Yes.”

“Jeremy, you know how I feel about-”

“Yes, yes, I know, but I can promise you that Michael wouldn't do anything to hurt me. We care a lot about each other, and we've even Skyped so I know who he is and stuff.” His dad didn't look convinced and he crossed his heart. “I promise I would never do anything to get myself hurt like I did the last time.”

His dad didn't let up the stern look until a few seconds later, but when he did, he sighed. “Okay, okay, fine. But I want to meet him.”

“Done.”

“Also, I'm upset that you didn't tell me sooner.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't know if the friendship would last this long,” Jeremy sighed. His dad looked over at him.

“How long has it lasted?”

“Our two month anniversary of friendship was three days ago,” he answered and his dad looked amused. “Don't give me that look!

“You're serious about this kid, huh?”

“Yeah,” he replied, looking down at the lake again and being unable to wipe a grin off his face. “I am.”

***

Jeremy hadn't texted him yesterday.

Correction, he texted him during school hours and one hour after, but after that, there were no more texts.

Michael had figured he had gotten busy yesterday, and that he would text him more today, but it was already after school and he hadn't gotten any texts from Jeremy. Of course, he had been texting Jeremy, but no responses. His messages weren't even being read. He could feel worry twisting his stomach, but he pushed it over to being too paranoid.

**(7:02 AM)**  
**me: I don't know why school starts this early jeez**

**(9:46 AM)**  
**me: I saw this girl with a bear in a sweater charm on her bag**  
**me: it reminded me of you haha**

**(12:53 PM)**  
**me: Jeremy…?**

**(2:08 PM)**  
**me: I'm walking home now. Are you okay? What's wrong?**

Michael typed out the last message and bit his lip while scrolling through previous messages. This wasn't like Jeremy, to just not respond at all. It had anxiety starting to rear its ugly head and Michael really didn't want that to happen.

“Michael, are you okay? You've pretty much chewed a hole through your lip, and that is not good for you at all.”

Michael jumped and turned his head to look at Chloe. She looked concerned and he sighed before holding up his phone and showing her the texts.

“Do you think I said something wrong?” he asks shyly and she takes the phone and scrolls through their previous messages. She hands back the phone and shakes her head.

“No. You can see that this kid cares about you a lot. He hasn't read any of the messages you sent today, so that's better than being left on read.”

“I mean, I guess.” Michael shut off his phone and put it in his pocket, kicking a rock on the sidewalk.

“Don't worry about it, Michael. His phone probably died or something. I'm sure he'll text you back later.”

“I hope so,” he says, waving bye at Chloe before entering his house. He feels a little bit better by then and he kicks off his shoes by the door, dropping his bag down there too. He walks into his kitchen and gets a carton of juice out of the fridge.

He turns around and nearly drops it when he sees who's sitting at the counter.

“Hello, Michael.”

“Hey, dad,” he chokes out.

***

Jeremy was obviously _not_ made for theater, especially if it included this much dancing.

He was exhausted walking home while Christine was still chipper and full of energy. Jeremy gave her an incredulous look when she came out of rehearsal bouncing.

To make matters worse, his phone had decided to fall off his charger the night previous, meaning that when he woke up, his phone had 2%. He was also about to be late so he couldn't charge it or anything. His phone died on the way to school.

He got back home at nine at night, rehearsal running until seven, him and Christine going out for food afterward. He just wanted to fall into bed and never wake up. He was especially glad that today was a Friday.

When he got up to his room, he plugged in his phone and put it near his bed. Then he fell into his bed and fell asleep nearly right after doing so.

At some ungodly hour during the night, probably three or four o'clock in the morning, his phone ringtone blasted loudly. He jumped awake and glared at his phone with heavy eyes. The call was missed, and Jeremy didn't check who it was. He decided that if it was important they would call back.

Well, he would guess it was important because not more than two seconds later, they called again. He answered his phone without looking at who was calling.

“Hello?” he greeted sleepily, his eyes already closing again.

“J-Jeremy…?” Out came Michael's voice and Jeremy bolted awake again. His voice didn't sound how it normally did.

“Michael? What are you doing up so late?” he asked and Michael laughed wetly. Jeremy's heart clenched in his chest.

“I'm always up this late, Jere-bear.”

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing-”

“What's _wrong_ , Michael?” Jeremy said sternly and it proved effective when Michael broke his "I'm fine" facade.

“It's…. It's just…” Jeremy wanted to be there with him during this, not on the phone. “I don't know… I'm overreacting, it's not that big.”

“What are you overreacting about?”

“...You. I just thought that… something happened to you and I didn't know what it was…” Jeremy didn't know how to reply to that. Michael choked out a laugh again. “Yeah, that's what I thought. You don't respond for a day and I get like this… shit…”

“No, no, I would've gotten upset too, I understand. I am so _so_ sorry, Michael. My phone died and I got home really late today so it was dead all day. I'm so sorry-”

“Don't be. I-I’m just glad you answered.” There was the sound of sniffling and Jeremy would've killed to have been there to wipe away his tears and hold him tight. “I just get insecure like this at times… it'll go away soon.”

“...What else happened while I was gone?”

***

Michael decided he had nothing to lose. As he felt the cold bathroom tiles through his boxers and shirt, he decided to open up a bit more.

“M-My dad visited,” he near whispered. He didn't know why he was being so quiet, it's not like anyone would hear him.

“‘Visited’?”

“Yeah. He doesn't live here anymore. I barely ever see him.”

“What happened?”

“He, uh, he… he-” his breathing got faster and Jeremy picked up on it, shushing him.

“You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable, just know that I'm here for you,” he said quietly and Michael felt a little more comfort.

He was so glad that Jeremy was talking to him again. He felt kind of pathetic, considering it had only been a day and a half of silence, and the dependency that he had on Jeremy was now ridiculous. He had been dealing with it actually pretty well until his dad decided today was a great day to show up and go for his son's neck.

There had been a screaming match until his mom showed up about an hour later and kicked his dad out, threatening to call the cops. By then, Michael was already shaking badly and his mom had to calm down. He still felt like he was going to throw up.

He had been calm for the rest of the day, but as the day turned to night and his mom went to bed, he started to feel so alone. His house was dead silent and he couldn't bring himself to turn on the television or listen to music. He needed human interaction.

So here he was, sitting on the cold floor of his basement bathroom and on the phone with Jeremy Heere, a boy his mind has tricked him into thinking had left him.

He realized that he had been quiet for a while when Jeremy started talking again, as quiet and soft as before.

“I care about you _so much_ , Michael, you wouldn't know. I wouldn't ever even think of disappearing on you, no matter what your mind or your anxiety says.”

Michael flushed when he realized he said the last part out loud. “I didn't mean-”

“I know.”

“I… I want to tell you what happened.”

“I'll listen.”

“My dad… doesn't live with my mom and me anymore. They divorced when I was in seventh grade. My dad is… really shitty,” Michael felt his hands start to shake again. “He shows up every once in awhile to ‘check in’. Him checking in is him starting an argument with me over my imperfections until my mom throws him out.”

“Jesus,” Jeremy breaths out and Michael nods.

“Today it was my sexuality and my friends. It started off normally, him asking about school and how I was doing, and I was giving him answers like ‘fine’ and ‘good’. Somehow you got brought up in the conversation and he just blew a fuse,” Michael could hear Jeremy muttering angry things under his breath. It made him smile slightly. “He told me a bunch of bs about how you weren't a real friend and how you were just using me.”

Jeremy’s reply came lightning quick. “Michael, I would never-”

“I know.” A few more tears fell and he choked out another sad laugh. “It just sucks, you know?”

“I know,” Jeremy says. “My mom was like that too. She completely cut me and my dad out of her life now.”

“Oh, I'm sorry-”

“Don't be,” Jeremy cut off. “I just- I wish I could see you.”

Michael's heart thudded. “What, like Skype? I'm too much of a mess for that.”

“No. In real life. I want to see you and hug you and just be there with you. I don't care if we're just sitting in the same room and doing our own thing; I just wanna _be_ there.”

Michael felt his face flush and his eyes well up again. “Me… me too.”

Michael wiped at his eyes and he heard Jeremy sniffle on the other side. Jeremy coughed out a laugh.

“This is such an emotional conversation. I didn't expect to be having this at four AM on a Saturday.”

Michael frowned and bit his lip. “Do you want to… hang up?”

“Hell no. Wanna play Apocalypse of the Damned?”

“Hell yes.”

***

Jeremy likes Michael.

He wasn't quiet about that exactly, the only person he hadn't told was Michael himself out of fear.

They were two months and three weeks into their friendship and they had started sharing more things about each other.

For example, he knew these things about Michael:  
\- He was gay.  
\- He had never been in a relationship.  
\- He had once broken his glasses to make his friend Chloe laugh in fourth grade.  
\- His favorite drink was 7/11 cherry slushies.  
\- Etc.

Michael knew these things about him:  
\- He was bisexual  
\- He had a dated his friend Brooke, but it lasted for a week.  
\- He tried to fight someone in first grade over Pacman.  
\- He hated blueberries (with a passion).  
\- Etc.

There was obviously a lot more information passed between the two of them, but that was a few of the things.

(Jeremy decided that one of his favorite activities was learning about Michael.)

“So,” Rich started, his lisp tripping him up. “Are you gonna tell me why you busted into my room or are you just going to continue to stare at my ceiling?”

“Richard,” Jeremy said, his tone dreamy.

“Full name? This must be _serious_.”

“I think… I think I love Michael.”

***

Rich was going to _scream_.

Jeremy was laying his floor like a lovesick puppy, talking about Michael, who was, in fact, only _one minute away_ now.

That's right. It would take only sixty seconds for Rich to drag Jeremy's ass to Michael Mell’s house to live out his gay dreams.

“Love? Woah,” he settled for instead, genuinely surprised that it had become that serious in that short amount of time.

“I know, right? I've known him for such a short amount of time, but I just… I don't know, Rich. I don't know what I'd do without him.”

“Jack off to porn still?”

“ _WHY?!_ ” Jeremy cried, curling into a ball on the floor and covering his burning face with his hands. He whined again and Rich groaned.

“Am I right?”

“ _Shut the hell up!_ ” he shouts and blushes even more somehow and Rich nods. I knew it, he thinks.

“Anyway… love. How well do you know him?”

“We've been getting into more personal things recently,” Jeremy responds once he has his blush under control again. “We stood up an entire night from 8 PM to 4 AM just talking a few nights ago. No video games or anything. All we did was talk.”

“This sounds serious.”

Jeremy nods. “I mean, I'm not even sure if I'm _in_ love with Michael just yet; I've never been in love with someone before. I just feel really strongly about him.”

“Look at you, growing up,” Rich teases and Jeremy groans this time. “Get your man, Jer.”

“Go get yours!”

“I didn't tell You? Me and Jake are fu-”

“ _Do not finish that sentence._ ”

Rich bursts out laughing as Jeremy's face goes red once more.

***

Rich is sitting on Jake's lap as he looks at Christine, Jenna, Chloe, and Brooke. Every person is giving him a confused look.

Rich quickly introduces everyone to each other and they all greet each other. The tension drops a bit after they all discuss common interests before Christine pipes up.

“Why wasn't Jeremy invited to the meet and greet?”

Chloe gives her a look as if something is clicking into place before slowly looking at Rich. “Neither was Michael…”

Slowly, one by one, it looks like they start to understand the situation and Rich gives it a minute or two before he clears his throat to get their attention.

“Thank you all for coming to my _boyfriend_ Jake's house today.” Said boyfriend in question tightens his arms around Rich a bit. “As you may have figured out, I personally know Michael's Jeremy, and Jeremy's Michael.”

“Oh my God, this is great!” Christine exclaims and Rich nods.

“How long have you known?” Brooke asks and Chloe nods.

“Since about… what… two weeks in?”

“Why didn't you introduce them to each other earlier?” Jake asks and Rich grins.

“Because you all are gonna help me make a plan to introduce then on December 15th at the mall!” he shouts, a bit too over excited and Chloe gives him a look.

“Rich, that is in _three_ days.”

“This is for the love of our best friends!” Christine says equally as over excited, but maybe even more passionate. “We can do it!”

“That's what I like to hear!” Rich points at her and she grins.

“I can hitch a ride with Michael and distract him!” Jenna says, raising her hand and Rich bounces in Jake's lap, buzzing with energy and nodding.

“Christine and I can distract Jeremy!” Brooke says and Rich nods.

Chloe pulls out her phone. “I'll figure out the best location in the mall for them to meet.”

“I'm thinking the entrance,” Jake suggests and Chloe gives him a “huh” look.

“Think about it: Least crowded, open space for them to see each other, grass for when one of them inevitably tackles the other in a hug," he pauses dramatically to let it sink in. "It's foolproof.”

“I like the way you think,” Chloe agrees.

“Okay, okay, let's get serious,” Rich says and Christine giggles.

“Let's get down to business,” she sings and outright laughs at the looks everyone gives her.

“To defeat the Huns!” Brooke completes and high-fives Christine.

Rich looked around as his giggling friends went serious and started talking through the plan. Oh yeah, he couldn't _wait_ to see the looks on Jeremy and Michael's faces.


	5. Cherry-Flavored Sidewalk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To M&J Meeting Plan:
> 
> RichyBitchy: Plan "the gays meet eachr other" is a go
> 
> Chris:): It's actually "M&J Meeting Plan", Rich
> 
> RichyBitchy: TIS TEH SAME THJING, CHRISTINA
> 
> Chlo: Why

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the majority of this yesterday cause I was so excited so:  
> 1\. It's pretty cliche  
> 2\. It probably sucks  
> 3\. I had my edgy angst phase already so there's not *too* much angst (this chapter ;))
> 
> Anyway;;  
> Happy reading!
> 
> EDIT:: Now with really adorable fan art made by sky.hugs.art on Instagram! It's so cute and it made me extremely happy to see, so I hope you don't mind that I added it. Thank you so much!!

Jeremy sat on his bed holding his phone out in front of him on December 15th. He was laughing about something with Michael when there was a loud knock. Before he could say anything, Christine and Brooke enter his room. He looked to Michael's confused face back and back to them a few times.

“I'm kind of skyping someone right now,” he said, holding up his phone to drive his point home. Christine and Brooke exchanged a look with each other before Brooke put her hand on her hip.

“Did you forget the plans today?” she asked and it took a few seconds before Jeremy was jumping up.

“Shit,” he said and Michael laughed, probably at the expression on his face. He had forgotten that Michael was still watching all of this and he looked back at his phone. “I completely forgot I had plans today. Want to Skype tonight?”

Michael nodded and grinned. “It's okay, I actually have something to do soon too. Talk to you later.” And he hangs up.

(By the way, Jeremy still thinks that the small gap between his teeth is adorable.)

He sighs and looks up at Christine and Brooke, who wear matching impatient looks.

“Either you get dressed or you're going to the mall in Christine's spare dress,” Brooke threatened and Jeremy just looked at Christine.

“You never know what can happen,” she defended and Jeremy stood up, going through his clothes. Well, that was his plan until Brooke slid past him and started going through his clothes. He turned to look at Christine, but he saw that she was doing the same thing with his pants.

“Um, guys?” he said and Christine turned around, throwing a pair of pants at him. She gave him an innocent smile and raised her eyebrow.

“We have an hour and a half until we're supposed to be at the mall,” she explained and he must've looked a mix between upset and surprised because she giggled. “Brooke and I are here to make you look nice.”

“What- You- _Why?_ ” he asked looking between the both of them. “You made me hang up a call with Michael to give me a _makeover?_ Who the hell do I have to impress at the mall?”

“Aw, Chris, he's mad because he had to hang up on Michael! That's so cute,” Brooke crooned and dragged on the “e”. Jeremy groaned as his face flooded with color.

“Plus, you never know who you're going to see at the mall,” Christine sing-songed. Jeremy squinted at her before sitting back down on his bed.

“Yeah, right, like I'm going to see Michael Mell at the mall today,” he huffed. “He's the only person I care about impressing right now.”

“You never know, Jeremiah,” Brooke said lowly and Jeremy shuddered.

“Well, that was ominous and you guys are going to keep making fun of me if I keep talking, so do whatever.” Christine looked over at him and gasped dramatically.

“Why are you sitting? Go try on those pants!” Christine swatted at him and he ran out of the room. He changed in the bathroom and he walked back. Brooke motioned for him to spin and he did so. He turned back to them to see Brooke nodding approvingly and Christine hummed.

“Well, I've got to say that those jeans make your ass look very nice,” Brooke compliments and Christine nods. “Now for the shirt!”

Brooke throws a button up at him and he groans overdramatically before walking out of the room again.

He just hoped that this would be worth it.

***

“Okay, so I'm thinking that we hang around the mall for a bit before Rich shows up with his boyfriend and his other friends. We'll only have a few minutes, but it's whatever,” Chloe says to Michael who is driving.

“We're meeting outside the entrance of the mall, by the way,” Jenna says from the back.

“Wouldn't it be smarter to meet in the food court or something? A big table where all of us can sit around and meet and greet?”

“Uh, no,” Chloe says, looking up from her phone and giving him a look. “Everyone knows that you meet new people at the door.”

“What,” Michael just says, pulling into the parking lot of 7/11.

“Why?” Jenna asks, multitasking and typing quickly on her phone.

“We're meeting new people. I need a confidence slushy.”

***

**To _M &J Meeting Plan:_**

**GossipGirl: Alert! Do not let Jeremy go to 7/11**

**Chlo: Idk how he does it, but M has a seriously intense look on his face while pouring his slushy**

Christine looked up from her phone and looked at Brooke. Brooke glanced away from the road and read the first text real quick before looking back to the road.

“Hey, can we go to 7/11?” Jeremy asked, leaning forward from the back and looking at Brooke. “I want a slushy.”

“Sorry, Jer, but there's no time. Rich wants us to be there at 3:30 sharp.”

“Brooke, it's 3:15 and the mall is 3 minutes away.”

“Can't you just get a slushy at the mall?” Christine asks and Jeremy squints at the both of them before sitting back and crossing his arms.

“You two are planning something. You two are planning something and it involves me.”

“What?” Brooke sounds so overly upset that it makes Christine, the theater kid, cringe. “Why would you say that?”

“Listen, if it won't injure me or injure someone else, just go through with your plan so I can get it over with.”

“Shush, Jeremy,” Christine says, typing a reply with one hand and throwing her other hand to the back as if to say “stop”. “You're going to _love_ meeting Rich’s friends.”

***

Michael was immediately relieved from the cold when they stepped into the mall. Not only was he only wearing his favorite red hoodie, but he was also sucking on the straw of a red slushy, which was chilling his body and his brain.

Both Chloe and Jenna were typing rapidly on their phones, and Michael just pulled out his own, sending Jeremy a text.

 **me: why is it so cOLD**  
**me: I mean, I also may be drinking a slushy, sooo**

Jeremy’s reply was almost immediate and it made Michael grin goofily.

 **Jere-Bear: Michael .**  
**Jere-Bear: Guess I'll just have to ship you a sweater to warm you up, huh?**

**me: Looks like it, Jere-bear!**

Lately, it had seemed like Jeremy was flirting with him. His texts seemed to have a flirtatious undertone, and some of the things he said while skyping were not things heterosexual bros said to each other.

“Well, hello handsome,” Jeremy greeted a few nights ago when Michael called. Michael had blushed furiously and looked away from the camera smiling hard.

Michael didn't know how Jeremy acted around his other friends, so he didn't know if he threw compliments like this around. He just knew it made his heart start to race and his face hurt from smiling.

God, Michael would do anything to meet this boy in person. He wanted to just be able to see him with his own eyes in person. He wanted to be able to smile with him, laugh with him, but him, and maybe even kiss him. Yeah, kiss him.

Michael loved him.

“Holy shit,” Michael whispered and looked over at Chloe. “I love Jeremy.”

***

**To _M &J Meeting Plan:_**

**RichyBitchy: We got J**  
**RichyBitchy: Bring M out**  
**RichyBitchy: Were at the benches by the grass**  
**RichyBitchy: J is bitxhin bout the cold n facing away from the entranc**

**Brookie♡: We don't know how long we can keep him out here, so hurry up!!**

**me: MICHALE SAID HE SLOVES JEREMY HOLY SHITBR**

Chloe put her phone in her pocket and looked at Michael who slowly lowered his phone and had wide eyes.

“Are… are you sure?” She asks and she motions something to Jenna. Jenna just gives her a confused look.

“Yeah. Definitely. I love Jeremiah Heere.”

Chloe laughs internally at “Jeremiah” and Jenna clear her throat.

“This moment is super touching and I'm definitely going to remember it, but Rich says we have to meet them outside, like, right now.”

Michael looks at her and nods. They start heading towards the entrance and Chloe checks her phone one last time before putting it away. Everyone is shouting about the message she sent but one message from Rich sticks out.

“Okay, so, there's four of them. Their names are Brooke, Christine, Jeremy, and Jake. He'll tell you who's who when we get there.”

“Jeremy?” Michael sighs sadly. “If only…”

Chloe feels excitement racing through her veins and she exchanges an excited look with Jenna behind Michael's back.

“Yeah, if only.”

***

“How do I look? Do I look okay? Oh God, what if they don't like me? Should we meet them inside?” Jeremy was asking a million questions and shaking, not just from the cold. Christine waved her hand at him.

“You look fine, Jeremy. I’m sure they’ll love you,” she reassured, although that did nothing to ease the nerves in his body. He had a feeling that something big was about to happen. He had absolutely no idea how to explain it; it was just like there was a bunch of little things in his body that were buzzing. In fact, he barely even felt cold. He just felt… awake, and excited.

He didn’t understand it at all. They were just going gift shopping. Maybe he was excited about the holidays? He doesn’t know.

“Remember, their names are Chloe, Jenna, and Michael. Rich will tell you who’s who when they get here,” Jake says. Jeremy looks down at his phone in his hand and sighs.

“If only it was my Michael.” Jeremy doesn’t understand and ignores the grin that statement prompts out of Rich.

“Hey, Jeremy, can I see your phone?” Brooke asks and Jeremy hands it over without a second thought. It dawns on him a few seconds later.

“What, why?” he asks, trying to get it back. He fails as Brooke jumps backward.

“I’m doing this so that you don’t break it.”

“What?”

“Turn around, Jer,” Rich prompts and he shakes his hands one more time as if it will help his nervous condition and he spins around, seeing three teenagers approaching.

Rich and Jake move out of the way behind him. There’s just grass there now.

Brooke and Christine stand close to each other to his side. They seem to be clutching each other’s hand. Their faces read pure excitement.

Jeremy focuses on Rich’s other friends.

The one all the way to the left is a girl with brown hair pulled back in the front. She has on earmuffs and she has her phone in her hand. She looks to be taking a picture of something.

The girl on the right is taller than the one on the left and her hair is darker brown and curled. She walks with her hand on her hip and is already looking up at Jeremy. He feels the anxiousness return.

He finally looks at the guy in the middle. He’d guess that this was Michael. The assumption made his heart pang painfully in his chest; he just wanted to get his phone back and message _his_ Michael about the situation. He’d have something calming to say.

The boy is wearing a red hoodie with a bunch of patches on it. Jeremy can’t tell what they are from the distance. The boy’s face is turned downwards and he’s clutching a slushy and drinking from the straw. There are headphones around his neck and his hair is messy and dark brown. Everything about him seems so… _familiar._

They are nearly right in front of Jeremy when Michael looks up and meets his eyes and that’s when it hits him.

_He is Michael fucking Mell._

***

Michael doesn’t want to look up.

He doesn’t want to admit it out loud, but he’s scared. A lot of people don’t like him, and he thinks that Rich’s friends aren’t going to like him just by looking at him. He focuses on the pebbles and breaks in the sidewalk, finding them a lot more interesting than the extreme pounding of his heart. He wants more than anything to call Jeremy to have him calm him down, but Chloe had taken his phone at the door, and Jeremy had said that he was busy with his own things, so he probably wouldn’t have been available to answer.

When they’re close to Rich’s friends, he finally takes a deep breath and forces himself to look up.

What he sees is not what he expected.

He sees a boy slightly taller than him with (beautiful) blue eyes and slightly curly brown hair. His eyes are blown wide and his mouth fell open as soon as Michael looked up. Then it occurs to Michael why he looks like that.

_He is looking at Jeremiah fucking Heere._

His own mouth drops open and the slushy falls from his hand and lands on the ground with a clattering sound when he brings his hands up to cover his mouth in shock.

Jenna and Chloe step back, and it doesn’t even occur to Michael that this is why Jenna had been recording a video since they stepped out of the mall.

Tears are welling up in his eyes and Jeremy’s arms open a second before Michael launches himself at Jeremy.

 

 

They fall over, predictably, and Michael holds his hand behind Jeremy’s head to avoid injuring him. When they land, they’re clutching tightly onto each other and Michael is near sobbing into his shoulder. Jeremy is holding onto him so tight that it’s like he’s afraid that Michael will disappear if he lets up even a little bit. The same is shown in the way that Michael is holding onto Jeremy. He can feel Jeremy shaking as he sits them up a bit, not letting go at all. Michael is sitting in _Jeremy Heere’s_ lap and sobbing into his shoulder. He thinks that Jeremy is crying too.

He’s holding the boy that had told him that he’d always be there for him, the boy of his dreams, the boy who stood up for a full night before school on Skype because Michael had gotten a little bit spooked by a sound outside.

His heart was going to overflow and burst. His face is going to split from the force of the grin on his face. He tries to say something but he can’t make out the words properly. He settles for burying his face in Jeremy’s jacket. Michael was going to cry even harder, but now he was laughing and crying, and it sounded horrible, but he didn’t care.

He never _ever_ wants to let go of this boy.

***  
The entire world around him and Michael vanished as soon as he had Michael in his arms. He didn’t care about anything else right then, his entire thought process was just _Michael, Michael, Michael._

Jeremy’s crying, and he’s crying hard. He doesn’t even care that he must look like a mess because he is holding _Michael Mell_ _in his arms._

The boy he has dreamed about meeting, the boy that he had cried with over Skype, the boy he called for thirty seconds when he went to take out the trash at night because he was scared.

His chest feels so full and the butterflies in his stomach must’ve grown in size because he can feel them against his ribs. Michael is so _warm_ in his arms and Jeremy feels rooted to the spot. It’s a good thing he is sitting down because his knees feel so weak that he doesn’t think he can stand if someone asked him too. He buries his face in Michael’s hair, and he forgets that he just met the _boy of his dreams_ in a patch of grass in front of the local _mall._

(He doesn’t forget the “boy of his dreams” part, just the patch of grass part. He will honestly never forget meeting the boy of his dreams.)

Michael pulled away a bit, but not nearly enough to move away from Jeremy completely. He just pulled back enough to look at Jeremy’s tear soaked face and laugh before pressing their foreheads together with a smile, and Jeremy couldn't help but smile and laugh back.

This was it, Christmas was canceled because he had officially received the best present.

***

**To _M &J Meeting Plan:_**

**me: Guys I'm finna bust a tear**

**Chlo: ..Why are you like this**

**WakeyEggs &Jakey: Why are you texting us we're standing next to each other**

**Chris:): DO YOU WANT HIM TO BREAK THE ROMANTIC ATMOSPHERE YOU HEATHEN**

**Chlo: Okay but seriously my emotions are acting up Rich I feel you man**

**Brookie♡: This is so sweeeeet!!!**

**me: Okay but who got the pictures**  
**me: I'm gonna frame em**  
**me: And keep them forever**

 **WakeyEggs &Jakey: 1. I gotta admit that I'm feeling a little emotional myself**  
**WakeyEggs &Jakey: 2. You're supposed to use that stuff for blackmail**

**me: You do not UNDERSTANF me, Jake**

**WakeyEggs &Jakey: I am dating you .**

**Chris:): Did i hear pictures because sign me the He'll up**

**GossipGirl: Yall gotta shut the FUck up I am trying to record here!!**  
**GossipGirl: And I'll hook you guys up with those pictures ;)**

***

Eventually, Michael and Jeremy had to stand up from the damp grass, but that absolutely did not stop them from hugging.

Both of their faces were flushed with excitement and cold, and Jeremy kept his arm wrapped tightly around Michael's shoulders. Michael had his own arm wrapped around Jeremy’s waist, and they both used their free hand to wipe their faces. Michael had picked up his (thankfully.unharmed) glasses that had flown off when he tackled Jeremy, and he could not wipe the grin off his face. It looks like Jeremy had the same problem, except his was more intense where he couldn't stop looking at Michael as if he wasn't real.

(Michael had that problem a little as well.)

Rich made them pose for a picture and proceeded to take many, sniffling all the while. Jeremy muttered “I can't believe you're here” to Michael during one of them, which sparked an awing fest in everyone and made both Jeremy and Michael's face burn.

(“You guys knew about this and didn’t tell us?!”

“This is a lot sweeter, Jeremy!”)

They did walk inside when the cold became a bit too much for them to do what the mall plan had originally been made: Christmas shopping. Before that started, however, there were the official introductions and a bit of talking before venturing into the crowded mall.

They wandered around for a bit, Michael and Jeremy still holding onto each other, when Brooke brought up the idea of splitting into twos to shop for the others in the group. They agreed on it, deciding to meet all together at five in the food court to eat, and Michael and Jeremy (predictably) broke apart in one of the groups, heading upstairs.

They were finally alone when Jeremy tightened his grip on Michael to get his attention that he already had.

“I never thought I'd get to meet you, let alone meet you this soon,” he said softly and Michael practically melted. If he liked Jeremy’s voice over the phone, he liked it even better in person.

“Neither did I. When Chloe told me your guys’ names, she said ‘Jeremy’, and I thought it would be childish to think it was gonna be you.”

“M-Me too. About the name thing,” Jeremy stuttered and Michael grinned. Jeremy was just so adorably awkward.

“I just feel really like… affectionate and clingy right now, haha.”

“So do I. Totally. I'm never going to let you go now that I've met you,” Jeremy responded and Michael felt his knees go a bit weak.

“Neither am I, Jere-Bear.”

Jeremy’s face flushed and Michael looked away, embarrassed. He wondered if his face was going to always feel like it was on fire. He figured that that was going to be the case considering he was standing this close to the sun.

After a few more sappy exchanges they actually started shopping for the others and their parents. The shopping was full of inside jokes and quiet conversations, them barely leaving each other for too long of a time.

At one point, when they had calmed down a significant amount, Jeremy was distracted by something at the back of the store. Michael took that time to sneak away and quickly buy something for Jeremy without him seeing. Jeremy reunited with him and they headed to the food court even though they still had thirty minutes left.

“Okay, so I'm assuming Rich didn't fly you in from somewhere,” Jeremy said and Michael nodded. “So where do you live?”

Michael told him his address and Jeremy groaned loudly, smacking a hand over his face.

“That is like, _ten minutes_ away from my house.”

Michael laughed loudly and bumped his hip with Jeremy’s.

“This isn't _that_ funny! I've texted you once before that I wanted to be in the same room with you while I was at Rich’s house. He lives _on your street_.”

Michael laughed even louder then, nearly dropping his bags and clutching his stomach. They reach an empty table and he put down his stuff, sitting down. Jeremy sat in the seat across from him and put his chin in his hand. At least, he did until his eyes grew wide and he gasped.

“Oh my God, I literally _saw you_ in 7/11 awhile ago!”

Michael stopped laughing for a second and scanned him again before burying his face in his hands and peering at Jeremy through his fingers. “Why are we so stupid?”

“I don't know! How did I forget a pretty face like yours?”

Michael blushed and glanced away while smiling. He looked back at Jeremy with a fake stern look. Jeremy looked way too smug.

(He loved that it wasn't the fuzzy quality of a Skype call anymore. He could just reach out and touch him.)

((Not that he would, but-))

“I'll have you know that your appearance ruined my slushy. Now it's on the sidewalk at a mall,” he shook his head jokingly at Jeremy. “Unbelievable.”

“I will buy you an unlimited amount of cherry slushies.”

“That's sweet that you remember my favorite flavor and all, but you have 2 dollars left.”

“I will buy you one slushy.”

“That's all I ask for, Jer-Bear.”

***

Jeremy had gotten a ride with Michael on the way home, along with Jenna and Chloe. After a bit of argument, he was stuck in the back with Jenna and he quietly looked through the photos she had gotten before sending himself some.

Michael dropped off Jenna first, and then Chloe, Jeremy jumping into the front seat as soon as she got out. Michael grinned at him as he closed the door.

They pulled up to Jeremy’s house and he started fidgeting with his hands. Michael was looking at him expectantly before he looked up and cleared his throat.

“Would you maybe want to… stay over?” he asked hesitantly and Michael nodded immediately, relaxing a little.

“Obviously. I thought I was going to have to delete the text of “I'm staying at a friend's house” that I sent to my mom.”

Jeremy laughed and got out of the car, walking inside with Michael. His dad was sitting at the kitchen table and shuffling through papers. His face looked stressed but when he saw Jeremy and Michael walk in, he started smiling but the smile dropped when he looked at Michael.

“Um… Son, who is this?”

“This is Michael. My internet friend that you wanted to meet,” he replied calmly and his dad's eyes grew wide. He looked at Jeremy as if to ask for more of an explanation.

“Turns out he was one of Rich’s actual friends in his school, and all of our friends surprised the both of us today by making a plan for us to meet.”

“Oh,” his dad said in realization. “That's why Rich let you… oh.”

Jeremy nodded and chewed on his lip. Michael extended his hand towards Jeremy’s father. Jeremy could see that his hand was shaking. His dad gave him a stone hard look for a few seconds before laughing and taking his hand, shaking it.

“Nice to meet you, Michael. I would want to sit down and, well, meet you more, but unfortunately, I have a lot of busy work today.” He held up his papers as if to empathize his point and made a shooing motion with his hands. “You boys run upstairs. Goodnight!”

“Night dad,” Jeremy called behind him, Michael saying goodnight as well. He turned to Michael when they were in his room, feeling the events of the day finally leaning on him and causing him to yawn.

There wasn't even that much physical activity involved today; he believes he may be suddenly feeling so tired because he had just met the boy that he's (probably) in love with.

“What do you want to do?” Jeremy asked, suddenly feeling more nervous than he was in the mall. It probably had to do with the fact that Michael was in his bedroom.

Michael seemed equally as nervous which calmed Jeremy down a little. He pointed at his tv. “Want to just watch movies and talk until we fall asleep?”

“Hell yeah.”

***

Mr. Heere cracked open Jeremy’s door to see that the two of them were asleep on his floor, some movie playing in the background.

Michael's head was on Jeremy's shoulder, and Jeremy was leaning his head onto Michael's. They looked very content and Mr. Heere didn't have the heart to wake them and tell them to move onto the bed, so he slowly slid the door shut to avoid making much noise.

He padded back downstairs and sat at the kitchen table again, checking the clock and groaning when he saw that it was 2 AM.

He looked at the letter again, reading it over for what must've been the twentieth time and sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.

He didn't know how he was going to bring this up to Jeremy. He had an idea of how he was going to react, but he didn't know how to bring it up. It wasn't exactly… life changing, just something he knew that Jeremy didn't want to deal with.

For now, he wasn't going to break Jeremy’s happy world bubble. He never wanted to burst that bubble, but he would tomorrow.

Mr. Heere sighed once more, looking at the letter one more time before folding it and putting in back into the envelope and leaning back in the chair, trying to relax in the oddly loud quiet of his home.


	6. Maybe Wednesday will be better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is soon! The holiday spirit is in the air, so isn't it fitting that the Mell and Heere families get together?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ,,,,fuck,,  
> Okay, so, warnings:  
> -Really bad parent-child relationships here  
> -Panic/Anxiety attacks  
> -Mentions of past abusive relationships  
> -The roasting of Jeremy's mom  
> -The death of Michael's phone
> 
> (I know half of those warnings were jokes, but seriously, stay safe. This chapter is very heavy and upsetting, and I don't want anyone to get too upset.)

Michael likes to believe that he is a good person.

  
He means, he helped that one turtle cross the street, he's just blunt enough towards his friends to guide them out of trouble, and he's all around a typically nice person.

He just wants to know why the universe doesn't find him good enough to fit into their goodness quota and makes a whole lot of bs happen to him.

He'd start from the beginning of his day:

Michael did not want to leave the next morning.

Yes, his necking was aching like hell and his back hurt from sleeping on the floor, but the house had a warm and safe feeling to it that he didn't want to leave.

Plus, Jeremy lived in that house, and Jeremy was cute and funny and smelled nice, so what were the benefits of leaving?

He did eventually have to leave, seeing as how all good things must come to a sort of anti-climatic end.

He ate breakfast with Jeremy and his father, Jeremy blushing easily over teasing from his father. Michael liked his dad a lot, seeing how funny and easy going he was. He even ruffled Michael's hair before he left and said something along the lines of “Welcome to the family, son.”

(That was the fastest that Michael has ever been accepted into a family.)

Michael and Jeremy stood by the front door, neither of them really wanting to make a move. They talked in hushed voices for a bit until a _ping_ from his phone broke the quiet atmosphere and he had to leave.

He hugged Jeremy for a long time, hugging him tightly as Jeremy did the same. They said goodbye one last time, promising to hang out again during the week, and Michael left the house with a grin on his face and waving his hand.

He drove home (eleven goddamn minutes) and parked in the driveway, walking inside and kicking off his shoes at the door.

“I'm home!” he called out to his mom, pulling off his hoodie as the warmth of the house hit him and hanging it on a rack by the door.

(His mom would have a fit if he just threw it on his chair like he usually did.)

The lack of response shocked him, but he figured that either she had gone somewhere, was busy, or was still sleeping. He didn't think too much of it and he walked into the kitchen, stopping when he saw his dad at the counter, smiling at him when he entered.

“Oh,” he simply said, a frown already pulling at his face.

“Aren't you going to say _‘hello’_?” he asked, frowning for show.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Michael. What have you been up to?”

“Nothing much.”

“Is that why I found a… chat log between you and that Jeremy kid we discussed?”

Michael felt anger flare up in the pit of his stomach. “Why were you going through my shit?”

“That is no way to talk to me, Michael. I bought you that system, so I have the right to look through it,” he explained simply, standing up and looking down at Michael. “I thought we agreed on you not talking to him anymore?”

“I didn't say anything when you brought that up,” Michael said, biting back from growling it.

“May I go through your phone as well?”

“Hell no.”

His dad stared at him hard and Michael stared back equally hard. Michael folded his arms over his chest and opened his mouth again.

“Where's my mom?”

“Doesn't she usually go out with her colleagues on Sundays.”

_Shit,_ Michael thought. _Looks like he'd have to deal with his father for awhile today._

His notification sound went off and his father stared at the pocket with his phone in it.

“That's probably her. Check it.”

Michael followed what he said to avoid a fight and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it and clicked on his messaging app, which showed that Jeremy had actually been the one to text him.

**Jere-Bear: Gah, I miss you already**..  
 **Jere-Bear: When are we supposed to meet up??**

Michael blushed slightly and typed out a response.

**me: how does Wednesday sound? We can meet at the 7/11 and figure out what to do from there?**

**Jere-Bear: :D See you then, Michael !!**

Michael smiled a bit and turned his phone off, putting it back into his pocket and looking up at his dad who was staring at him intensely.

“Who was that?”

Michael felt no need to hide it, seeing as he had the capability to call the police himself if things got out of hand.

(It made Michael sick to his stomach to think that the man who had taught him how to ice skate and who had ruffled his hair once upon a time and said “I'm glad that you are my son.” turned into this bastard who would only leave him and his mom alone if authorities were involved.)

“Jeremy.”

“So, right after I tell you to stop talking to him, you text him right in front of my face?”

“Yup, seems so.”

“He's just going to end up leaving you, Michael! He's an internet friend, he is _fake_. I bet you made him up yourself.”

Michael felt the anger approach him slowly again and the next thing he said he couldn't regret more. “I met him yesterday. That's who's house I was at.”

His dad froze and looked at him with wide eyes. “What did you just say?”

“I. Met. Jeremy. I stayed the night at his house. I'm going to see him again this week.”

“That's fucking disgusting,” his dad snarled, which had Michael's blood boiling. “God, why couldn't you turn out _normal?_ Instead, you turned into… _this._ I can't believe you're ruining your life like this.”

“Go away,” Michael practically growled.

“To think of how long I stayed in this house with someone like you. I gave you the world, Michael! And you threw it away. Your grades are shit, your attitude is shit, _you are shit._ ”

“Get the hell out!” Michael yelled. His eyes burned and he let out a shuddering breath. His dad bent down to look him dead in the eye and gritted his teeth.

“I hope 'Jeremy' leaves you so you can see how fucking _sick_ you are. I doubt your friends even hang around you for you. Are you paying them? Are you spending the money I'm still legally bound to give your mom to raise you to pay them to act like they like you?”

“ _Fuck you,_ ” Michael ground out. He was gritting his teeth so hard that it started to hurt his head.

“I only want the best for you, _son,_ but our feelings are not shared.” His dad shoved him, and Michael tripped over his own feet, losing his footing and landing on his ass. “Why do I even still visit you? I'm wasting my time by coming here!”

“Get the fuck out before I call the police!”

His dad just stepped towards him and laughed. He leaned down and Michael flinched and froze up. His dad pulled his phone out of his pocket and threw it across the room. Michael flinched again at the sound out it crashing into the wall and again when it fell to the ground.

“Can't do that with a broken phone, Michael. Lucky for you, I have somewhere that I need to be that isn't this hell hole of a house. I'll see you sometime in the next two months.”

His dad walked around him and out the door.

He was thanking every higher force out there that his dad just decided to leave, but that didn't help remedy the bruises, both mental and physical, that he left behind.

Michael didn't make any move to get up, he instead just curled in on himself and hoped that his mind and anxiety would just shut up for once in his damn life.

***

“Jeremiah?” Jeremy heard his dad call after he had shut the door behind Michael. He laughed and walked into the dining room where his dad sat at the table. He leaned on the doorway and raised an eyebrow.

“‘Jeremiah’, huh? What's up?” he asked, feeling light-hearted and happier than ever. His dad sighed and Jeremy felt his heart sink a bit. He had barely seen his dad like this since before his freshman year.

“Take a seat, please.”

“Dad… what's wrong?”

“You're going to want to take a seat for this, Jeremy.” Jeremy listened to what he said and he sat down in the seat opposite him. His dad hesitated for a moment before opening an envelope that was already open and pulling out a paper. The edges looked worn and ripped a bit as if his dad had been messing with the paper.

His mind took a hold of his mouth and made him blurt out the first bad situation he could think of, which made his heart completely drop.

“We're not moving, right?”

His dad looked up then and shook his head. “No. I wouldn't dream of moving out of this town. It's just… seems like some people move _to_ this town.”

Jeremy’s heart stayed in the pit of his stomach, though now he felt the creeping of anger.

“You don't mean what I think you mean… right?”

His dad didn't respond and Jeremy put his hands on the table, leaning forward. The floaty feeling from earlier was completely gone, feeling like he was rooted to the ground, maybe even being pulled down into the Earth. If his dad responded how he thinks he will, he'd gladly sink into the ground right then and there.

“Dad?”

“Jeremy, I got a letter from your mom-”

“No, no, no, I cut her out like she cut me out-”

“She wants you to start staying at her home on some weekends and holidays, including this Christmas.”

“She doesn't have the _right_ to do that!” Jeremy near yelled, standing and knocking his chair over. “She was almost granted custody of me before she got them to give it to you and moved out of this place. Why the hell would _she_ suddenly want to see _me?_ ”

“Believe me, I'm asking the same thing. I just know that that is what this letter is saying.”

“I refuse to stay with her, even if it's only sometimes. She can take that notion and shove it up her ass.”

“Jeremy-”

“She's part of the reason I was so torn up freshman year, her and that-”

“Jeremiah, I-”

“I just wish she'd-”

“ _Jeremy!_ ” His dad yelled and Jeremy froze, shutting his mouth. He looked at his dad and his entire body somehow became tenser when he noticed the tears in his eyes.

The rage had blinded him from seeing how it affected his dad too. He had forgotten how torn up he was over her leaving, alongside with him. He forgot about the late nights he spent awake, trying to catch up on work or trying to help fix his son. He forgot.

“Yes?” he asked, tone quiet. His throat felt like it was closing up on him.

His dad lifted a pile of papers and cleared his throat. “Your mom has a lot of close friends in high places." His voice cracked over the next words. "She could bring this to court. She could gain full custody of you.”

Jeremy felt like his vision was closing on him. He stumbled back until he hit the wall. He shook his head and he saw his dad walking towards him. His dad put his hands on his shoulders and the touch comforted him but it was wiped out by the panic he felt. His heart raced and his vision clouded.

“She… she can't… that's not possible!” he stuttered out and he slid down the wall, his father crouching down with him. “No, no, no, no… there's no way!”

The tears started to fall and his dad held him tighter and looked into his eyes.

“Jeremy, I need you to breath.” Jeremy went to say something else and his dad shook his head. “I need you to breath right now. We'll talk when you've calmed down, alright?”

Jeremy shakily nodded and took a few deep breaths. He grabbed onto his father's arms tight until his vision stopped blurring and his heart stopped racing. He slowly let go when he was calmer, letting his hands drop to the ground.

“I don't want her to have custody of me,” Jeremy croaked out, squeezing his eyes shut. “I'll visit her and I'll-”

The sentence got caught off by the sob that tore its way out of his throat. His dad hugged him then and Jeremy hugged back tight, willing time to stop then so that he didn't have to go back to how freshman Jeremy was.

Of course, it didn't. He didn't think it would anyway; the universe usually had the tendency to be against him.

***

Michael didn't go to school the next day.

He had gotten up from the floor when his mom got home an hour or so later; Michael wasn't paying attention to the time. She had asked what happened and Michael explained. He lifted his shirt to find a bruise on his back which really triggered her rage.

She wanted to march down to a courthouse right then and there and file for a restraining order but Michael managed her not to go. (“What will that really do to protect us? He won't care, we don't have cameras to prove he violated the order, and they expire easily. It'll do _nothing._ ”)

His mom saw his broken phone and let out some loud curses, looking over to him and seeing his broken face when he saw it too. She promised to get him a new phone within the next week and Michael waved his hand as if to say not to worry about it and she just repeated to promise louder.

Michael walked up to his room, ignoring the protests coming from his mom. He walked in to see the room a mess, noticing how the expensive things hadn't been touched. (Of course, his dad would make sure not to break the things he had paid good money for.)

He had spent the majority of the rest of the day cleaning up the mess, crying, and punching pillows. He was a complete mess of emotions and no way to release them; he couldn't rant to his mom, there was no way he'd put this extra stress on her when she was as mad as she was. First, her ex-husband tears up a room in her house, and then she breaks a phone he doesn't own. That was going to put a stress on the money they had as well, and Michael didn't want to worsen it with his emotions.

He couldn't text anyone or call anyone for obvious reasons. That meant no Jeremy, no Rich, no anyone. Talking to Jeremy over his console was an option, but what was the chance of Jeremy logging on to see a pending message from Michael? _Rare,_ Michael thought. If he wanted to talk to his friends, he'd have to walk to their houses, and he really wasn't up to starting the walk to their houses and breaking down in a panic attack on the way there from the quiet outside and the loud in his head.

The fact that he wouldn't be able to listen to music from his phone started pressing down then, quickening his breaths. He sat down on his floor and calmed himself down, something he had gotten exceptionally better at over the years.

(He didn't want to go into detail as to why his way of preventing panic attacks had gotten better.)

((Just know that it really sucks when you're twelve and at a Halloween party when your one friend leaves you.))

His music was a distraction, a coping mechanism. Stressed out? Put on some calm wordless music. Studying for a test? Motivational was the way to go. That one kid who won't for the life of him stop snapping his gum decided to sit next to you today? Avoid throttling him by listening to some happy go lucky music.

All in all, music was important to him, very much so, and his dad managed to take away some of it. Michael wanted to yell and shout just into the open air to let it all out, but he did none of that.

What he did do was climb into his bed in his now clean room that night and sleep. Sleeping didn't soothe the ache, but it made him able to forget it. He woke up the next morning all too late and nearly freaked out before he saw a note his mom left on his desk telling him not to worry, to just take it easy.

The note brought a small smile to his face and he climbed back underneath his covers, pulling them over his body and face and curling up.

He guessed that he really should count his blessings.

***

Jeremy was going insane.

First, his phone was dead silent the past few days. Yes, he did get messages from the new group chat he was in with all of his new and old friends, but all he did was lurk in it, reading up on everything.

There was nothing from Michael, no calls, no texts, hell, not even any messages sent through game. Jeremy had half a mind to walk to Michael's house, but he thought that was a bit extreme. Maybe he wanted some personal space, but that didn't stop Jeremy from sending a few texts each of those three days of silence.

Jeremy had asked Rich how Michael seemed at school, if he looked upset or angry, but all Rich replied with was a worried, “Michael hasn't been to school the last two days, bro. I thought he would've texted you ‘bout this.”

Now Jeremy seriously wanted to walk over and check up on him, but where was he stuck instead?

A cafe with a lukewarm coffee in his hand.

This wasn't his idea, not by a long shot. In fact, it was his mother's, who had yet to talk to Jeremy directly and instead talked to his dad instead, acting as if she still had a right to tell him what to do.

( _As fucking if,_ Jeremy thought. _Okay, I should seriously calm down,_ he thought right afterward, counting to ten as he slowly breathed out.)

When he had calmed down on Sunday, his dad explained the whole situation to him as he sat on the ground, shaking his head and tears pouring from his eyes.

Okay, so not only was he going insane, but he was also scared as hell.

He decided, in the end, to see his mom, starting with this cafe date, to avoid worse things, such as his mom taking legal action. Technically, she had done everything she needed to, paying child support and acting as if she was still an active part of Jeremy’s life. So Jeremy wouldn't try to resist too much.

There was nothing much his mom could do if Jeremy got infuriated with her though, so at least he could let out that anger somewhat.

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out at lightning speed, his heart clenching. He opened his messages only to see he had gotten a text from his mom. (His dad gave her Jeremy’s number the night before.) His heart dropped a bit in his chest.

**M: Where are you sitting? I'm here.**

**me: Back corner table.**

It was three minutes later that she sat in front of Jeremy. His heart pounded uncomfortably in his chest and felt as if it was in his throat. He looked up at her to see her sipping her own coffee and looking at him. He glanced over her quickly to see that she hadn't changed much at all.

She set down her coffee and smiled wide and bright. “Jeremiah, you've grown so much. I remember when you were so small in eighth grade, geez. And you cut your hair, wow. You're really becoming a mature young man.”

He sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. She obviously expected him to say something and he didn't, shrugging one shoulder. He saw her smile twitch a little bit before it was stuck back into place.

“I'm truly sorry about not calling it visiting before today. My phone lost all of its contacts and there was no way to reach either you or your father!”

“Okay,” Jeremy simply replied, keeping his defensive stance. His mom leaned forward, dropped her chin onto her laced hands.

“So tell me, Jeremy, how has school been? You're a… what… senior now, right?”

“Junior.”

“Right, right, sorry. Anyway, how has it been?”

“Pretty good so far, I mean, I stopped going to the counselor for midday panic attacks and some wounds have finally scarred over.”

His mom forced a laugh. “Oh, Jeremy, always my little _comedian._ ”

There was a moment of silence before his mom coughed and continued speaking.

“So… make any new friends.”

“I made friends, surprisingly. My best friend Rich and I actually bonded over an abusive anonymous person on the internet.” Jeremy held up his hand and crossed his middle and index finger. “That really keeps people close, especially when it makes you feel all alone.”

See, a normal person's reaction would be to either pity him or not believe him, from what he's seen so far. His mom's reaction was for her grin to twitch up higher.

“So you have a group of friends now?”

“Yeah. We're made up of all queer kids, including me now that I've been thinking about it.”

Jeremy was well aware that the way he was saying things was pissing off his mom. He knew it and continued doing it to see if only she could taste a little bit of the pain that her absence had sparked.

“...Oh? What made you come to that conclusion?”

He took a sip of now disgustingly cold coffee. “This kid I met named Michael. _He's_ stupidly handsome and funny. I'm actually hanging out with _him_ tomorrow.”

“Oh. How nice.”

Silence again.

“So, Jeremiah, I bet you're wondering why I moved back into town.”

_Finally done with the small talk,_ Jeremy internally groaned.

“I got a job offer here that I had to take, and I figured that I should visit my son and spend some time catching up with him.”

“Better do it quickly. I turn eighteen next August and I won't have to associate with you ever again.”

“You do know that I don't benefit at all by being kind to you, correct?”

“I'm sure you benefit in some way, shape, or form, otherwise we wouldn't be here in this stupid ass cafe drinking coffee flavored water.”

That remark got her to shut up and Jeremy didn't say anything either. After about a minute, she sighed and rubbed her temples, looking back up at him. Her blue eyes looked dull and Jeremy thanked everything out there that that was one of the only similarities he had to her.

“Your dad told you the visitation arrangements, I assume?”

“Yup, although I have to disagree with your plans for me to stay with you on Christmas and New Years.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her formally neat hair. “I can understand the resistance for Christmas, but why New Years?”

“You see, my new friends are so cool that I actually get invited to parties. I'm going to my friend Jake's New Year's party where I will hopefully get wasted and have a New Years kiss,” he explained, starting to stand. He pulled his jacket off the back of his chair and put it on. “This was a nice meeting, really enjoyed it.”

“Wait, where are you going?” his mom called after him and Jeremy kept walking towards the door but he waved over his shoulder. it felt like every set of eyes in the cafe was on him and it made his skin crawl.

“You have my number, use it.”

As Jeremy walked home, he hoped that the wind was cold enough to freeze the tears on his face.

***

Late Tuesday night, both Michael and Jeremy sat alone in their rooms, clutching their covers and willing the day to _just change to Wednesday already._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...heh...heheh...love you guys...heh...
> 
> (Also, this is unrelated, but I do read through my writing before I post it, but I tend to miss a lot of typos and/or grammar mistakes, so I apologize for the mistakes in this chapter and each chapter previous!)


	7. Snowfall and a Lake, what cliches we are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wednesday comes and Michael and Jeremy hang out. Nothing special, just talking for a bit when a few emotions are let out and a few more are kept in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk what to put heere, so have a few facts:  
> -I love Christine Canigula so Much  
> -writing texting is so much fun??  
> -I only listened to sad songs while writing this nice  
> \- doe, a deer, a female deer, ray, a drop-  
> -the formatting punched itself in the face and i spent sO LONG FIXING IT I-

Michael did end up going to school on Wednesday. He looked and felt like shit, but he still did go. He knew that staying in bed all day wasn't go to fix anything and he would really be screwed if he kept missing school.

His day had been semi-okay so far, although everything was too loud for his liking, and he entered his class before lunch. He knew he had this class with Rich, and his heart thudded in his chest when he wondered how Rich would react to his sudden presence after seemingly disappearing. Would he be concerned, or would he not care?

(Michael knew that Rich loved him, and he knew that fact very much so, same goes for Chloe. It's just that when one person who once loved you so much and told you how shit you are, you start to wonder if everyone sees you the way that you've begun to see yourself.)

Michael didn't expect Rich to walk in with wide, expectant eyes and absolutely beam when their gaze fell on Michael. Rich ran over, running into a desk on the way (“I got a big ass bruise on my hip. I don't know why the universe keeps tryna make scars ruin my life, with the burns and shit, but give me more! I keep looking more and more badass!”). He flung his arms around Michael when he reached him and Michael recoiled mostly out of shock, but when he realized that Rich was hugging him, he hugged back.As much as it felt that every pair of eyes in that room were on him and Rich, he hugged back tightly. His heart hammered in his chest and Rich pulled back and looked at him with a suspicious look.

“Do you have a crush on me or something?” he asks and Michael was _not_ expecting that question.

“What? I- No!” he stammered out, shaking his head. “Just nerves.”

He steals a not so discreet look around the room where it reveals that no one is looking at them but Michael can't shake the feeling. Rich puts his hands on Michael's shoulders and it grounds him a little. Michael looks back to Rich who has a serious look on his face.

“I don't give a shit how I embarrass myself anymore; I mean, I will say some weird loud shit right now to get the attention off of you. If you want me to- If it will make you less embarrassed, I'll let you go and we can talk about this somewhere else,” Rich reassures and it makes Michael smile. He shakes his head and they sit down. Michael pulls his hoodie a little bit tighter around himself.

“I've just had a… bad weekend, to say the least. Saturday was amazing, but Sunday was absolute hell.”

“What happened? If you don't mind me asking?”

“Well, after I left Jeremy’s house, I headed back home.” Michael ignored the look Rich gave him when he mentioned the fact that he had spent the night at Jeremy's. “My dad was home and he just… ugh… said a lot of shit. I don't want to get into detail, sorry.”

“No, no, I get it. You could've called and asked to stay the night at my place if you wanted to get out of the house,” Rich suggested and Michael shook his head.

“He doesn't live there so it was fine. Besides, he broke my phone. I considered getting so high to try to forget it all, but I didn't know if it would even work and I didn't even want to try,” Michael overshares quietly and Rich looks angry. He leans away from him, voice coming out even smaller. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No way,” Rich says a little too loudly and waves his hands. “Your dad pisses me off.”

“Oh… me too.”

A silence falls between them. The teacher drones off in the front of the room, trying to get the class to pay attention and failing. No one is trying too hard that day, Thursday being their last day before there's a break for the holidays. The teacher gives up and tells them to at least look like they're reading in case an administrator walks in. Both Rich and Michael open their books before Rich taps Michael's shoulder and he turns around again.

“Do you want to use my phone to text Jeremy?” Rich asks suddenly and Michael hesitates a second before nodding. Rich smiles as he hands his phone over. “I could see it on your face, Michael.”

“Shut your face, Rich,” Michael bites back, a smile breaking out on his face for the first time that day. He feels a lot better, talking to Rich and being able to text Jeremy. His gut stops twisting and he relaxes a bit, opening Jeremy's contact on Rich’s phone (laughing a bit when he can recognize who it is even though the name is “Tall Ass Queere”) and typing out a message.

***

Jeremy is half asleep during class when his phone buzzes in his pocket and he restrains from yanking it out loudly and quietly pulls it out to check it under the table. He's a little disappointed to see that Rich is the person who texted him, but he opens the messages anyway.

**Rich: Did you know that Gorillas can catch human colds??**

Jeremy scrunches up his eyebrows before responding.

 **me: ????  
** **me: What are you talking about??**

**Rich: It's something I saw on Discovery the other night**

Jeremy is completely confused now and he shifts into a straight position instead of slouching, looks up to make sure the teacher is distracted before using both hands to type a reply.

**me: Okay since when do you watch Discovery?**

**Rich: Uh,,,, since forever, dude?**

**me: Okay who are you?? What have you done to Rich because he cannot type this well for the life of him  
** **me: Also he'd rather die than watch something educational  
** **me: An actual quote. I put on Animal Planet once when we were freshmen  for like two minutes before he threw his bean bag chair at me**

 **Rich: Jer-bear, I have been watching Discovery since I was born Michael Mell,,, I thought you knew this??  
** **Rich: Also relatable**

 **me: MICHAEL WHAT  
** **me: RICH  DJDJIDEB IF YOU'RE PRANKING ME IM GONNA CRY AND YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE MRE CRYING YOU ANND I BOTH KMOW THAT  
** **me: I GET REAL UGLY AND MAKE YOU FEEL BAD SO DON'T PRSNSK MR YOU HEO  
** **me: Plsu ill spam those 2011 memes u hate so  
****me: Rage comic edition**  

Jeremy can't help the grin that lights up his entire face. The bell rings, and Jeremy thanks every higher force because he can't even begin to imagine how weird it would look to sit in class with an ever growing grin directed towards his lap. 

 **Rich: dear god no have mercy on your Bi Bro  
** **Rich: Ok M is dying of laughtr so he isnt gonsn be abme to type**

**me: WHAT SO THAT WAS MICHAEL**

**Rich: Ya  
** **Rich: He said “There's no way Jeremy can be ugly”  
** **Rich: personally I  
** **_Rich has deleted a message  
_ ** **Rich: please iignore everything Rich has said tobyou, please .**

  _It's too late,_ Jeremy thinks as he enters the cafeteria with a red face. The grin is still on his face and he sits down at his table without even looking up from his phone. He's the first person there anyway. 

 **me: Okay Michael  
** **me: anyway,,  
****me: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?? ARE YOU OKSY?? ARE WE STILL MEETING AT 7/11 TODAY OR?? I MISSED YOU!!!**  

 **Rich: Okay, so, your answers are: I've been home; my phone broke, I'm somewhat okay, yes, I think I'd actually fight you if you bailed on me, and I missed you too Jere-bear  
** **Rich: Okay, Rich is telling me to give him back his phone because this is, and I quote, “too sweet and gay for him”**

**me: he is bi?**

**Rich: yes i am rlmeo**

**me: You couldn't be bothered to spell “Romeo” right?**

**Rich: who has enouf time to spell shitt these days**

**me: Fair enough**

 Jeremy doesn't get a reply after that and he puts his phone in his pocket. He sighs and puts his arms on the table before putting his head on his arms, smiling still.

He hears a few people approach the table and sit down before someone pats his head.

“Are you alright?” He hears Christine asks and he sighs heavily again. 

“I am so in love,” he sighs and Brooke giggles.

“Awe, gay.”

“Okay, but hardcore same,” Jake replies, not even flinching as Jeremy snaps his head up to look at him.

“You're in love with Rich?!”

“I don't speak English anymore, Jeremiah,” Jake says, uncharacteristically blushing as he takes a bite of his sandwich.

“Awe,” Brooke says again, taking a drink of water. Before she can continue, Christine finishes what she was going to say.

“Gay.”

“Yep,” both Jeremy and Jake say before they give each other a look and look away.

***

Michael doesn't know why he's nervous, he's just hanging out with Jeremy.

He's biting his lip in the candy aisle of the 7/11, jumping each time the bell signaling someone has walked in and trying to look over the shelves to see who it is.

 _It's because you love him,_ his mind supplies helpfully and he flushes.

“Shut up.”

“I didn't even say anything yet,” Jeremy says and Michael just about jumps two feet into the air and wheezes. He clutches his heart and glares at Jeremy.

“Warn a guy, will you?”

“Where were you at? I've been standing here for about a minute and you didn't notice me.”

“I was in Narnia, Jer-bear.”

Jeremy glares back with no real malice before laughing and walking forward and hugging Michael tightly. Michael hugs back almost immediately, leaning into Jeremy's chest. They stay like that for a while before they let go and they both nervously laugh and Michael takes a not so large step backward.

“Not to be rude, but you look like you haven't slept in days,” Jeremy says, concern lacing his voice. Michael looks away for a moment before looking back.

“I'll explain later. Can we go somewhere else?”

Jeremy hesitates before nodding and they walk out to Michael's car. They get in, Jeremy hopping in the passenger's seat, and Michael takes off.

“Where are we going?” Jeremy asks and Michael shrugs.

“Anywhere not loud. Want to go to the lake?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy agrees and Michael starts driving in that direction. They talked idly as Michael drove, just seeming to want to hear each other's voice.

(No, three days wasn't a long time without each other in someone else's eyes, but teenage love was such a fragile thing that three days was like an eternity.)

They got to the lake and Michael parked, the two of them getting out of the car and walking towards the edge of the lake. The place was pretty much empty, it being the middle of winter and after a school day. The air had a bit of a bite to it, but it wasn't as bad as it could be.

They sat down on the ground and Michael started pulling at the grass on the ground. Jeremy noticed and pulled Michael close to him by an arm around his shoulder. Michael stops fidgeting a little bit and leans into his side.

“You don't have to talk, I'm not going to pressure you or anything. Just know I'm here for you.”

“Heh… don't you mean-”

“Michael Mell I will throw you into this lake if you-”

“-’Heere’?”

“God dammit,” Jeremy breathes even though he's smiling. “My statement remains though.”

“Uh… tell me about your week first. Mine was a clusterfuck of bull shittery.”

“Colorful vocabulary, Michael.” Michael shoves him a little. “But I can relate.”

“Hm? Why?”

“After a grand three years of not acknowledging my existence, my mom suddenly comes back into my life.”

Michael looked up with a surprised look. Jeremy's hold on him was tighter and he wasn't looking at him.

“...Jeremy?” he asks slowly and Jeremy's lip trembles.

“Fuck.” He scrubs at his eyes. “I just really needed to see you.”

“Me too,” Michael responds and hugs Jeremy again. Neither of them let go for a while. Michael makes sure not to let go until the shaking in Jeremy's shoulders still. Michael sits back and looks at Jeremy with wide eyes. He puts down his arm and his eyes are red.

“She's acting like nothing happened at all. I have to start staying with her on weekends and some holidays unless I want her to own me like some kind of furniture or something,” he sighs, finally looking at Michael. “I can't wait until college so I can cut her out of my life completely. Silent payments.”

Michael has no idea how to respond to this but he tries his best. “I'm sorry you have to deal with this. I'm there for you, you know? Everyone is. You can stay at my house whenever you need to, you know, escape the mess for a bit? We can get high in my basement and just forget the world around us.”

Jeremy laughs and smiles a bit. “I like the way you think, Mell.”

“Oh, we're on a last name basis, are we? What a level of commitment.”

“Shush, you dork,” Jeremy says, half-heartedly pushing Michael's shoulder before frowning again. “She asked about you. Well, technically, but not directly.”

“Oh?” Michael prompted, curious. Jeremy looked away, blushing a bit.

“I said that you were my new friend and that we were hanging out today.”

“Wow, so little about me. I'm hurt,” Michael said dramatically, slumping on his side. Jeremy coughed out another laugh and shoving him again.

“Dork! I called you cute too if that gives you any consolation,” Jeremy mumbles out the last part so fast that Michael nearly doesn't catch it. Michael sits up ramrod straight when it registers in his head, face red from more than just the cold.

“You what?”

“I called you cute.” It sounds more like a question. A smile tugs at Michael's lips.

“I think you're cute too, Jere-bear!”

“ _Anyway!_ ” Jeremy coughs and Michael laughs. “What has you upset?”

“It's… my dad, again. He started yelling at me again and crushed my phone.”

Michael is frowning again now and Jeremy has his hands on Michael's shoulders.

“Do I need to find a WikiHow on how to fight a man at least a foot taller than me? Pictures included, of course.”

Michael appreciates Jeremy's attempt at humor and puts one of his hands on top of Jeremy's. “No. I'll be alright. Sorry, but, I don't really want to get into the details.”

“No, no, no, no sorries. I get it, seriously, Michael. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. If you ever do want to talk though, I'll always be right there."

“I know you and I know you were probably blowing up my phone with messages, so you were there in a way,” Michael says and Jeremy nods. “Can I see those texts, by the way? I'm not going to be able to read them.”

Jeremy's laugh sounds forced and he looks away.

“Um! I… deleted them?”

“Oh, come on, I _know_ you didn't delete them!

“Yes I did, Mell, how would you know?”

“Jeremy!”

“I don't have a phone,” he said and said phone buzzes. They both look down to his pocket and Michael snatches the phone away before Jeremy can get it and jumps up and Jeremy doesn't even react, just slumping on the ground.

Michael opens the messages sent to him and starts to scroll through them.

**_Sunday_ **

**me: I'm feeling like gaming  
** **me: Is that cool with you or??  
** **me: Micbael it's been an hour are you okay???  
** **me: I'm gonna assume you're busy,,, text me when you can, okay?**

  ** _Monday_**

 **me: Isee you have not read my messages,  
** **me: Rich also said that you weren't at school today  
** **me: I'm kind of very worried  
** **me: Also I saw a red bear plushie?  
** **me: Not relevant but it really reminded me of you and I felt thst it was important to tell you that  
** **me: Anyway-  
** **me: Answer me. Please?**

 ** _Tuesday_**  

 **me: Day 435:  
** **me: still no sigh of Michael Mell in these foresrs  
** **me: Gahhhhh  
** **me: I feel mushy and I miss you? Like a lot?  
** **me: Woah Heere a whole two days and you're already like this  
** **me: Its not like you are dating the boy  
** **me: Yet  
** ****_(You have deleted two messages.)_  
**me: I hope that deletes on your screen cause it sure isnt on mine .  
** **me: Its just I really like you?? And miss you? And now that I've seen you I want to see you again??? And kiss you,  like, a lot?????  
** ****_(You have deleted a message.)_  
**me: Its settled; I am a mess  
** **me: I aslo have a tendency to spam Jesus Chrsit okay  
** **me: Anyway!! Miss you, love you, answer if you see these!!  
** **me: SHIT  
** ****_(You have deleted a message.)_

  ** _Wednesday_**

 **me: rich told me that you didn't show yesterday either are you okay seriously I'm like shaking are you okay  
** **me: I'm seriously about to walk over there and check for myself but-  
** **me: Rich said he saw your mom and other shit so you're probably okay I just hope you are okay?  
** **me: I am in the middle of class it is Not the Time for this  
** **me: but  
** **me: Michael  
** **me: I seriously care a fuckton about you  
** **me: And like I love you  
** **me: Platonically romantically all that Gucci shit  
** **me: SHUT THE FUCK UP JEREMY OH, MY GOD  
** ****_(You have deleted three messages.)_  
**me: call back please i miss you  
** **me: xoxo, signed your local teenage mess**

***

Jeremy is dead. He is dead and he doesn't know if he's going to go to heaven.

(Listen, okay, in Jeremy's defense, he _is_ a teenage boy. He's experimenting with… _things_.)

He's still laying on the ground and he can turn his head to look at Michael but he really doesn't want to in fear of what he's going to end up seeing.

Sure, Michael showed signs of liking him back. Yes, Michael was gay. But what was the actual possibility of Michael liking him back? Really fricking close to zero percent, that's what the possibility was. So, instead of hurting himself prematurely by looking at Michael's face now, he waited until Michael forced him to look at him.

“You… you _love me?_ ” Michael sounds disbelieving. Jeremy's heart sinks and he shuts his eyes tight. _Yep, there it is_.

“I… I might… I might love you. I tried to de-delete those, but-” Jeremy cuts himself short; he feels like he's going to throw up if he keeps talking. _What a week!_ he thinks sarcastically. He kept his eyes shut, trying to prepare for the rejection when his thoughts are cut off by Michael's voice.

“Legitimately love me? Like, love me, or _in_ love with me?”

“Both, mostly the latter.” Jeremy doesn't think that the truth can dig him into a bigger hole than it already has.

“That's…”

“Gross? Stupid?”

“No. Amazing, incredible, unbelievable, outstanding, and I feel very emotional.”

Jeremy shoots up into a sitting position, seeing that Michael has moved closer, sitting on the ground beside him again with wide eyes and a very, _very_ red face. He slowly hands Jeremy back his phone and Jeremy puts it in his pocket just as slow.

“ _You what?_ ” he chokes out intelligently and Michael can't see to stop a smiling from overcoming his face, causing his eyes to crinkle as well. Jeremy feels his heart rise again, pounding in his throat. His face burns even brighter if possible.

“I… I love you too. Like, a lot. Also love as on _in love_ with you. Um. Haha.”

Jeremy stares at Michael with wide eyes. He wants to look away and to the ground, but he can't seem to stop looking at Michael. Michael smiles shyly and scoots closer to him. He lifts one of his hands and cups Jeremy's cheeks. Despite being pretty much frozen, he leans into the touch. His heart is very jittery in his chest and he doesn't know if it's okay for his health or not.

They stay like that for a few moments, and Jeremy notices the snowflakes falling and catching in Michael's hair, which somehow makes him more adorable. He grumbles and pulls off his glasses to wipe them clean of snow and that's the moment Jeremy thinks he's going to die.

“Do you want to get into the car and head home?” Michael asks quietly and Jeremy nods. Michael stands and helps Jeremy up. “Okay, cool, cause I was about to give the term ‘blue balls’ a whole new meaning.”

“You- You're ruining the moment!” Jeremy can't help but laugh.

“Humor helps me with tension, Jere-bear!”

***

“So, um, are we dating?” Jeremy squeakily asks from beside Michael when they pull up to his house. Michael feels the butterflies in his stomach flutter a bit more and he reaches across the way to grab and hold Jeremy's hand. Jeremy jumps but holds back.

“Do… do you want to?”

“Hell yes!” Jeremy says, loudly and overexcited. “I mean… yeah, sure…”

Michael laughs. “You're so cute, oh my God. You're going to be the death of me.”

Jeremy blushes and exits the car, walking over Michael's side. Michael gets out and hugs Jeremy for long and tight before leaning up and kissing his cheek. Jeremy grins at him and leans his forehead against his.

“I love you,” Michael whispers against Jeremy's mouth and Jeremy says the same. They pull away after a bit and Michael waves and smiles the whole way that Jeremy walks into his house. He gets back into his car and sighs before leaning his head against the steering wheel in a high-off-of-love fashion and screams when the horn blares. Jeremy opens the door again and just gives him a look while laughing and Michael drives off, more embarrassed than ever.

(But his main emotion is complete happiness.)

***

Rich opened his chat with Jeremy first and his eyes widened when he saw the texts.

 **Tall Ass Queere: I HAVE A BOYFRIEND ???  
** **Tall Ass Queere: I HAVE A BOYFRIEND GAH !!!!!**

His phone buzzed again and he rushed to check his messages with an... unknown number?

**Unknown Number: rich it's Michael**

**me: makes sense**

**Unknown Number: UM ANYWAY SO GUESS WHO GOT WITH JEREMIAH HEERE  
** **Unknown Number : U GUESSED RIGHT IT WAS THIS BOY**

**me: how tf are u here**

**Unknown Number: mom's phone**

Rich exited out of his messages and quickly opened the group chat.

 **To** **_The Bets:_ **

**_RichyBitchy_ ** **has added** **_YellowMellow_ ** **and** **_JeremyQueere_ **

**me: YALL BITXHES OWE ME MONEY GUESS WHST GAYD GOT TOHETHER**

**Chlo: dammit**

**Brooke♡: You guys couldn't wait for another week?**

**JeremyQueere: u guys fuckin wot?**

**WakeyEggs &Jakey: WOAH GET SUM HEERE  
** **WakeyEggs &Jakey: Also I thought you guys would confess for at least a month**

 **YellowMellow: well  I mean  
** **YellowMellow: It Wasn't Planned**

**JeremyQueere: YOU TOOK MY PHONE**

**YellowMellow: u know u love me**

**JeremyQueere: do I**

**YellowMellow: :(**

**JeremyQueere: I do**

**YellowMellow: :)**

**Chris:): AWE!  
** **Chris:): Also I can't believe Rich won the I could've sworn it would take two weeks.**

**GossipGirl: AAA THATS GAY**

**_JeremyQueere_ ** **has left the chat  
****_YellowMellow_ ** **has added** **_JeremyQueere_ ** **to the chat**

 **me: can't exsape the gay jerrrr**  

**JeremyQueere: all this bi erasure smh**

**YellowMellow: ANYWAY_  
** **YellowMellow: So yeah I'm with Jere-bear now**

**JeremyQueere: Michael is my boy . Touch my boy and I'll fight.**

**me: ur a twig**

**JeremyQueere:,,,,,listen**

**YellowMellow: a twig**

**WakeyEggs &Jakey: a stick**

**Chris:): a scrawny stick**

**JeremyQueere: Have I only been added to this chat to be bullied by my friends and now boyfriend  
** **JeremyQueere: I can't believe you guys just Mary Poppinsed my ass**

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who is proofreading, amirite? AHaa  
> (I should proofread tbh)


	8. This must be the weirdest friend group imaginable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A movie night with friends, being held at Jeremy Heere's mom's house! Be sure to attend for some... interesting... conversations and questionable movie choices!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so: The next chapter is going to consist of mostly flashbacks that explain the background of Jeremy's failed internet friend. That's gonna be it. Also, if you want to, read the end notes to experience me being a sappy hoe

“Jeremy, it's so nice of you to agree to spend a few nights here,” his mom greets when she opens the door, spotting his overnight bag. He steps inside the house and brushes the snow off of his jacket and hat.

“Only a few days, meaning I'm out of here by the thirtieth,” he responds, kicking off his shoes by the door and hanging up his jacket. The house is quite warm and he can already feel the chill from outside leaving his body. “I'm also inviting my friends and boyfriend over. This house is quite big, so that should be fine.”

“Oh, okay,” she says, her voice already sounding strained. “How many people is it? Two, three?”

“Seven.”

“...Oh.”

“Yep. I can leave if you want me to-”

“No, no, no,” she says, waving her hands and walking into the dining room and raising her voice to keep up the conversation. “Make yourself at home. Your room is upstairs, first door on the left.”

Following the directions, he walks upstairs and enters the room, sighing at the uncomfortable emptiness of it. There's a bed, a clock, a desk with a chair, and a dresser. There's also a closet, but it's completely empty. He hangs up some of his clothes and puts the others in the dresser before flopping back onto the bed. He stares up at the ceiling and just lays there listening to the sound of the ticking clock.

Yes, he realizes that he was being rude and acting as if she wasn't his mother. Yes, he realizes that, but he doesn't quite get it. How much of a mom really is she anymore? She left her fourteen-year-old son, breaking her father's heart, who unintentionally kind of left him alone as well. He didn't mean it, and their relationship had been getting better, but she completely meant it. He had gone through some of his worst times because she had left, and her being back was like ripping a band-aid off of a still open wound, but amplified. Jeremy thinks that he deserves the right to be a bit disrespectful.

He shakes his head to clear it out before pulling out his phone.

**To _fuck you clhoe im not that short_**

**JeremyQueere: I'm at my mom's house**   
**JeremyQueere: Do you guys wanna sleep over or some shit**   
**JeremyQueere: Also Rich i see you typing, so yes, there will be snacks and if you want more, the 7/11 is relatively nearby**

**RichyBitchy: aight**   
**RichyBitchy: count me and jake in. He doesn't know about the plns but since i am sitimg on him rn he's goin too**

**Brooke♡: I'll be there!**

**Chlo: sure whatever**

**Chris:): Oh fun!! Count me in!**

**GossipGirl: Literally nothing interesting is happening atm so since I have nothing else to do I'll be there too**

**JeremyQueere: gee am I glad to know I'm your second choice**

**GossipGirl: absolutely**

**YellowMellow: gm guys**

**Chlo: it is 1 in the afternoon**

**YellowMellow: and????? ur point is??**

**Chlo: unbelievable**

**YellowMellow: beelieve it**   
**YellowMellow: also I want in on the sleepover**

**JeremyQueere: well I mean I would hope you would**

**WakeyEggs &Jakey: Wait so we're just going to be a bunch of third wheels**

**Brooke♡: Your boyfriend is going to be there too Jake have pity on us single people**

**Chris:): don't pity me I am a-okay to be single**

**GossipGirl: my ace ass agrees**

**JeremyQueere: ANYWAY!**   
**JeremyQueere: You guys can show up pretty much whenever you want to**   
**JeremyQueere: I'll send the address soon**

**YellowMellow: can I come now**   
**YellowMellow: all I have done today is sleep and eat like four chips so I'm bored**

**JeremyQueere: sure :)! I got you a slushy btw;; it's in the freezer**

**Brooke♡: Awe**

**Chris:): Gayyyyy**

Jeremy closes the group chat with a red face. He opens it again after a few seconds to send his address and immediately closes it again when he sees that Rich has engaged Michael in what has been deemed “The Battle of the Gays”. He doesn't know how or want to deal with that right now.

He gets up and tosses his phone onto his bed, walking out of his room and heading back downstairs. He's just wandering around the house and exploring at this point, wanting to make the environment feel some type of familiar.

He walked down a hallway and a few pictures on the walls made him freeze in his steps and just stare. They were pictures of him as a kid, pictures of memories of his childhood, most of which had been forgotten by now. He could hear his mom talking in a room with an open door just slightly further down the wall and he walked over there, quietly peering inside.

She was walking around the room and talking on her phone which was pressed between her ear and her shoulder. It was a business call, Jeremy concluded, but that didn't explain all the boxes she was moving. The curiosity was strong, but Jeremy didn't want to get involved in something big so he just walked towards his room again silently.

_Mom_ , he thought, mouth twisting in confusion. _Just what are you playing at?_

***

Michael is going to go ahead and assume now that each adult is threatening in some way shape or form with the way that Ms. Heere frowns at him and taps her foot when she opens the door after he knocks.

He decides to push off the looming fear (and anger when he remembers _who_ she really is) and go with a humorous greeting.

“Hey, I'm Michael. Would you mind telling Jeremy that I'm ‘Heere’?”

The woman doesn't even crack a smile and Michael chuckles nervously. He's suddenly glad that it's a frozen tundra outside otherwise he would've been wearing shorts and she could've seen his weed socks. He glanced down quickly. _That would've been fun,_ he thinks.

“You're one of Jeremy's friends?” she asks and Michael hesitates for a moment. He doesn't know if Jeremy had come out to her yet or not, so he just settles for nodding. A small smile graces her face and she moves aside, allowing Michael to walk in. He kicks off his shoes and pulls off his hoodie, hanging it on the coat rack before shivering in his t-shirt. He doesn't know why he went with only his hoodie for warmth, but he'd think about it later.

(He would borrow a jacket from Jeremy anyway. He knew that Jeremy wouldn't deny him asking either. It would be cute and gay, just like himself.)

“He's getting a shower right now. Something about ‘wanting to smell decent’ but I honestly think he's just trying to look good for his boyfriend,” Jeremy's mom made small talk, walking further into the house, and Michael feels the need to follow, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “I heard he's coming as well. Do you know who he is?”

Michael figures that it's okay to tell her now, seeing as it won't put Jeremy in any danger. “Uhm… that would be me.”

“Oh.” She sounds shocked and turns to face him once more, smiling sweetly. “Why didn't you tell me right away?”

“I didn't know if… Jeremy had, um…”

“Told me?” she supplies, raising an eyebrow. There was a grin still on her face, and Michael wondered why he still felt so threatened. He had to look down at the lady to meet her eyes, her eyes the same striking blue as Jeremy's and Michael could see where Jeremy had gotten his smile. He would chalk it down to the fact that it was unnerving to be near someone he had only ever heard of through Jeremy, someone who had hurt Jeremy terribly.

He pushed away from the thoughts that blew around in his head like a whirlwind and answers her, trying to sound less nervous. “Yeah. That.” He steals a glance around the room, which is the kitchen. “You have a lovely home.”

“You don't have to be so uptight around me, Michael,” she waves her hand at him, picture perfect smile still in place. “You're a teenager, what teenager says ‘you have a lovely home’?”

She chuckles and Michael does as well. His posture remains tense and he clutches the strap of his bag a bit tighter.

“I hear voices, who's here?” Michael hears Jeremy ask from behind him and he turns around to see Jeremy in the archway. A smile immediately pulls at his mouth and Jeremy grins. “Michael!”

He walks over and hugs Michael and kisses his cheek sweetly. He doesn't pull away until Michael wiggles in his grip.

“I am fricking freezing and your wet hair is not helping,” he complains and Jeremy pulls away, shaking his head and Michael shoots him a glare when water droplets land on his face. Jeremy just stifles a laugh and walks over to the fridge. He opens the freezer and pulls out a slushy.

“Here's that slushy I promised you, by the way.”

“I was just joking about that, you know.”

“I wanted to buy you it, so don't worry about it.” He hands it over and looks away, rubbing the back of his neck when he blushes. “I didn't get to buy you on Wednesday, and I plan to follow through on my plan for infinite slushies.”

“Look at my Jeremy, being so sweet,” his mom butts in from behind them. They both turn around to face her. “When did you become such a gentleman?”

“Freshman year,” Jeremy near bites out the words and if Michael didn't understand the implication before he understands it when he sees the way her face seems to turn to stone. Her jaw is clenched along with Jeremy's and Michael can feel the tension in the room. It's suffocating.

“Well, I'll leave you two alone. I can call for pizza for all of you guys once everyone arrives.” Her face is back to smiling and her voice is cinnamon and sugar coated again. “It was a pleasure meeting you Michael.”

Michael didn't know what to say in response so he just nodded his head and she turned on her heel and walked out of the room and disappeared. Michael looked up to Jeremy who seemed to still be grinding his teeth together. He reached a hand up and put it on Jeremy's cheek, which both got his attention and made his jaw relax.

“You okay?” Michael asked quietly and Jeremy nodded. Michael leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for the slushy.”

Michael pulls away completely from a flushed Jeremy who waves his hand to say “don't worry about it”.

“Do you want to just play video games or something until everyone else gets here?” Jeremy asks and points to somewhere out the doorway.

“Hell yeah.”

***

**To _fuck you clhoe im not that short_**

**me: j I'm at your door fuxkin answer**   
**me: I got jakey d with me**   
**me: if u gays are making out i will Break doen this door**

**YellowMellow: Jeremy's being a 12 year old rage quitter right now**

**_WakeyEggs &Jakey_ has changed their name to _JakeyD._**

**JakeyD: What does that mean?**

**JeremyQueere: FUCK RAINDBOW ROSD**

**Chlo: 1. I just got here**   
**Chlo: 2. Forget you, Michael, Brooke is my new best friend she drove me here and got me frozen yogurt**

**YellowMellow: I'm yohurt**

**Chris:): JFBSJDNS**

**Chlo: 3. FUCK YOU MICJAEL YOU MADE ME PLAY ON RAINBOW ROAD BEFORE I GET IT JEREMY**   
**Chlo: Also.let us in xoxo**

**GossipGirl: I'm here too. I think I see Chris down the street**   
**GossipGirl: Yep it is Chris she's skipping and waving now**

**me: anyway,**   
**me: let us the FUCK in**

**JeremyQueere: michake we can't date anymorenhow are you so good at this**

**Chlo: IKR**

**Brooke♡: I can break in if you want me to.**

Rich put down his phone and sent the blonde next to him a questioning look. She put up her hands.

“I forget my keys a lot.”

Christine, breathing heavily, jumps up the stairs and stands near them. “Oh, me too!”

His phone buzzes and he looks down at it.

**YellowMellow: I'll get the door**   
**YellowMellow: Jeremy asks that you don't break his lock**

**me: fuxk the police**

**Brooke♡: Jake's a cop?**

Rich hears Chloe and Brooke high five from beside him and he's about to type a shameless reply when Jake lifts his hand and slowly pushes down Rich’s phone from his hands when he sees what he's typing. The door opens then with Michael gesturing for them to come in.

“Rich if you finish typing what I think you're going to, we'll kick you from the chat.”

“You can't kick me from the chat; I'm the admin.”

Everyone lifts their phone and in a few seconds Rich's phone buzzes. He checks his own.

**You have been removed from the chat _fuck you clhoe im not that short_ by a vote of (6/7).**

“Aw, babe, you didn't vote me out?” he looks to Jake who shrugs.

“Jeremy must've voted to keep you in.”

“Wow. You fuckers.”

**You have been added to the chat _rich is really fucking short_ by _JakeyD._**

“You guys really are fuckers, wow.”

“I'm the new admin,” Chloe gloats.

“Bastards.”

Michael laughs and starts walking up the stairs, prompting everyone else to follow behind him, and Rich feels so betrayed that he keeps complaining.

“You guys just did me dirty like that.” He shakes his head. “That is illegal.”

“Oh, tell it to the judge, shorty.”

***

Jeremy's sifting through movies and tuning in and out of the chatter behind him. He holds up a few movies to get everyone's opinion of them before they decide on one Rich brought with him called _Sharknado_ (“What's this one about?” “Don't worry, Chris, it has a _really good_ plot.”) and Jeremy sits on the floor next to Christine and leaning against Michael's legs. Michael starts playing with Jeremy's hair and Jeremy makes a humming noise and leans into it because _wow that feels nice._

The entire situation makes his body warm. He can't keep a smile from permanently being on his face, and he doesn't try too hard to calm it down. If it wasn't physically impossible he would say that his heart was glowing.

He stole a glance around the room, seeing how Rich was bouncing in excitement and Jake trying to calm him down. Chloe was talking quietly to Brooke and Christine was talking about the movie to no one in general, her becoming passionate and Jenna recording the whole thing. He tilts his head back to look at Michael upside down to find him absent mindedly still playing with his hair while actually focusing on the movie.

Michael notices that Jeremy is looking at him and he smiles at him before looking back at the screen. Jeremy turns his head towards the screen as well and pulls out his phone and turns down the brightness so it isn't glaringly bright.

**me: Michael?**

Jeremy mourns the loss of Michael's hands in his hair but it's fine because he gets an answer to his text a few moments later.

**Player1: Yeah Jeremy?**

**me: I love you**

**Player1: Awe,,,,,**   
**Player1: I love you too**   
**Player1: Any reason for the random affectiin?**   
**Player1: affection***

**me: idk I'm just feeling really affectionate/cheesy**   
**me: it's weird but like**   
**me: a good kind of weird??**   
**me: an “I really love my friends” kind of weird?**

“Aw, Jeremy, we love you too!” Christine says from her spot beside him and he jumps up, nearly overthrowing a bowl of popcorn between them. He hides his phone but it's too late.

“Is Jer being a cheesy old lady down there?” Rich asks and Christine nods. “Cool. Love you too bro. No homo.”

Jake nods. “Uh, same.”

Chloe clicks her tongue before shrugging. “I've known you for like two weeks so I don't have a full opinion yet but you seem cool.”

Jenna nods and Brooke pipes up. “Love you too dude!”

“Well, I especially love you. Full homo,” Michael agrees and bends down to kiss his forehead.

“Get that gay shit out of here!” Rich throws a pillow at them and Michael makes a weird noise as he attempts to deflect the pillow.

“Are you telling me to leave my own house?”

“You don't live here.”

“...Or do I?”

“You guys! You're missing a good part!” Christine complains and both of their heads whip around to see a guy cut through a shark with a chainsaw. “This movie is _super_ realistic.”

“What our lovely Christine here is trying to say is: Rich, what the everloving fuck is this?” Chloe asks and Rich bursts out into laughter. Between laughs, he wheezes out an answer.

“The title of this is _Sharknado._ ” He takes a deep breath. “Why the _hell_ would you think this would be good?”

That statement causes both Brooke and Michael to start laughing and Chloe spluttered, having been caught off guard. Brooke laughs even harder at Chloe’s reaction and Jeremy is pretty sure she is crying at that point.

Jeremy sits back at that point and feels as if he wants to cry. His throat closes a bit and he lets out his own laughs at that point, he is so unbelievably happy.

He feels safe and happy and just completely content. If the moment were to never end, he'd be okay with that.

He would be completely and utterly okay with that.

***

Michael feels the air mattress dip when Jeremy gets up and walks into the kitchen. It's not that Jeremy walks him up, in fact, Michael had been awake the entire time and just staring at the ceiling and counting the cracks in it.

He sits up and cringes at the loud noise it makes, looking around to see if everyone else was sleeping. He sees that they are and gets up quietly, using the pathway that they had cleared going towards the kitchen/bathroom and stands in the kitchen archway.

Jeremy leans against the counter drinking a bottle of water and reading a note that was stuck on the fridge. At the sound of Michael's feet hitting the tiles, he turns his head towards him and looks guilty.

“Sorry,” he whispers, setting down his bottle. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I've been awake the whole time. I couldn't sleep.”

“I get you.” He opens the fridge and gets out another bottle of water. He holds it out to Michael who then takes it.

There's silence between them when Jeremy's phone that's on the counter buzzes. He picks it up and the look that comes over his face has Michael feeling protective and scared.

“What's wrong?” he immediately asks, voice coming out a bit louder. Jeremy waves his hand and smiles shakily as he rapidly types on his phone. Michael steps closer and grabs Jeremy’s shaking shoulders and forces him to look at him. Jeremy's eyes are wide and fearful and Michael asks him again, voice lower and calmer this time. Jeremy worries his lip between his teeth before grabbing Michael's hand and dragging him upstairs.

He sits Michael down on his bed before pacing back and forth. Michael wants to comfort him but he doesn't even know what's wrong. He doesn't even get the chance to before Jeremy suddenly stops and turns towards him.

“A lot of bull shit happened to me in freshman year. It didn't last too long, only a few months, but it really messed me up,” Jeremy breathes out, talking fast. Michael listens intently. “Do you want the full story or the short one. Warning: the full story is long and it's late, so I get if you don't want to-”

“No, I want to hear it.” Michael gets up and grabs both of Jeremy's hands. “I love you and want to know everything I can know about you. If you want to tell me, of course.”

“I want to tell you.” Jeremy takes another breath and pulls his hands away before gently shoving Michael back. “You're probably going to want to sit down for this.”

Michael complies and sits back down, his leg already bouncing from nerves. Jeremy runs a hand through his hair and looks out the window to a side, beginning to speak.

“Freshman year began and my mom still had yet to come back. I had little to no friends, mostly just kids I associated with, and I was bullied a hell of a lot more than I am now, which is barely. I wanted some kind of escape, and I pretty much hated myself. I woke up, went to school, came home, did homework, stare in the mirror and point out flaws, eat dinner, fall asleep to self-doubt, rinse and repeat. Because I was, and still am, a teenager, I sometimes did… _other things_ … but the entire cycle in general was horrible.”

“I went on my phone and into the depths of google, trying to find a way to fix myself and found an app called ‘Better Me’ it sounded fake and it was super expensive but I was desperate. I had barely any users and I think that's because it was so fricking hard to find in the first place.”

“The concept was that you got an ‘internet friend’ and they helped you become cool. Their title was SQUIP and they were each designed to act, look, and sound differently, and I got my own.”

Michael can already feel his heart pounding in his throat and hears it in his ears. Jeremy takes a deep breath before looking away from the mirror and looking at the ground.

“If there's anything that can be called hell on Earth, it's that app and their SQUIPS.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY, SAPPY HOE AHEAD:
> 
> Every time I see a new comment, a new bookmark, or a new kudos I get so happy. I practically live off of comments and validation in that way and it makes me even more excited to write more. It sounds like I'm hyping this up or something like that, but seriously, every comment makes me grin like an idiot! So thank you so *so* much to everyone that takes the time to read and thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and comment. AAAAAA I love you all so much!!


	9. Things aren't okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the SQUIP was a part of this universe, just less... obvious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry  
> Warnings-  
> -same canon musical SQUIP to Jeremy abuse  
> -overwhelming amounts of fluff near the end

_**Freshman Year** _

The first day back to school for Jeremy had completely sucked.

His face was breaking out again, his voice was cracking every sentence and he had gotten lost. He had wandered into the senior wings and the senior that was assigned to take him to his class had thought it would be funny to shove Jeremy against the lockers, so Jeremy’s head ached as well.

Lunchtime was trash because Jeremy had no one to sit with. A kid he knew named Rich said a few things to him and Jeremy had responded, but that's where the conversation ended. He had considered just going and eating in the bathroom like some kind of loner cliche but scrapped that idea and didn't eat at all, spending the time making awkward conversation with one of his teachers.

By the time Jeremy got home he felt exhausted and dreaded going back another day. The girl he had a crush on had only noticed him to point out that someone had written “ga” on his book bag and that was completely embarrassing.

(He found out during the lunch that his and Rich’s book bags were a matching pair: His said “ga” and Rich’s said “ys”. Jeremy thinks that he got off luckier than Rich because “ys” is a little harder to explain than “ga”. Jeremy can just say the “mes” in “games” got washed off.)

He threw his book bag on the ground and booted up his laptop, going back to the tab he had open the night before.

It was an app that he had already downloaded on his phone but hadn't paid for yet due to how much it cost. He read over the program and what it does over and over before he sat up from his desk and sighed.

He left his room and quietly snuck into his dad's room and got one of his credit cards. He was extremely thankful that his dad was at work as he typed in the information and paid. He put the card back and put some money with it, and even though that wasn't close to how much he had just used, it made him feel a little better.

The app booted up then and rapid pictures of faces flashed on the screen. His phone buzzed wildly and heated up to the point where it hurt his hand so he dropped it on his bed and just stared wide eyed at it.

The screen flashed from blue to gray to black until slowly a picture of an older man who looked exactly like this one actor Jeremy knew was on the screen and looking around. His voice came out oddly robotic.

“Accessing camera. Accessing Photo Gallery. Accessing Private Information.” The list went on and on about what the man was “accessing”. Jeremy walked back over and picked up his phone again, feeling that it had returned to normal temperature. The man's eyes locked on his and a smirk slowly curved his lips.

“Jeremy Heere,” it started, voice low. “Welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. Your SQUIP.”

***

The company started to ship him things. He found it disturbing when the first package arrived, addressed to him and a simple box stamped with “B.M. SQUIP”. He hadn't even put in his location information or pretty much any personal information except his name, age, and his native language.

Jeremy knew that this was dangerous, really dangerous, but he didn't think about it too much. He (his father) had paid a hell of a lot of money for this program and it hadn't done anything for him yet. He had spent the first day talking with his SQUIP and the SQUIP asked him a ton of questions, some seeming relevant but a bunch of them were seemingly random. Two days later and Jeremy was getting agitated when he came home to see the box and he raced up to his room with it in his arms, missing the sad glance his dad shot him in his passing.

He tore open the tape and went through what was inside.

There was a pair of glasses with useless lenses. His phone buzzed violently in his pocket and Jeremy took it out and leaned it against the edge of the box when he saw his SQUIP on the screen. He plugged in earbuds before they started talking.

“Hold up each item in my field of view and I will explain their functionality.”

He held up the glasses first and they nodded.

“To help me see through your eyes, you will use those glasses. They have a practically microscopic camera in the middle and on both side so I can see what you see.”

He held up two black thick bracelets.

“Those have a very powerful microphone in them so that you can barely whisper to me and I can pick up what you're saying. Along with that, they do this.”

It took a second of confusion before Jeremy was jumping and yelping from the shock that ripped through his wrist and left his spine tingling.

_“What the frick was that?!”_

“It's to correct your actions should you mess up and do something incorrectly. I cannot be there to adjust you myself, so this is the next best thing.” The SQUIP rubbed their chin and squinted their eyes. “You say… ‘frick’ instead of ‘fuck’?... We'll need to work on that. Next.”

He holds up a small blue box.

“There are two small ear pieces in there. They can pass as earrings for you clip them onto your tragus so it's inconspicuous and you can hear what I instruct.”

“My… my what?”

“Tragus.” With the blank look Jeremy gave them, the SQUIP sighed heavily. “So I see you lack smarts. It's the part of an ear that is closest to the head. If you are still confused, you have access to the internet to look it up.”

  
“...I’ll figure it out.”

“Show me what is next. I believe you have two more items.”

Jeremy held up a bag with small round circles that matched his skin tones and a paper with a diagram of a body and multiple arrows pointing to different locations on said body. The SQUIP’s eyes gleamed and they folded their hands and put them under their chin.

“You will put those patches where it points to on the example body. It’s… a bit hard to explain what they do, so you will see when it is time for me to use them. Do not be afraid, they do not hurt you much. Additionally, the adhesive is so powerful that there is little to no chance that they will fall off during a shower or at any other time.”

“That… sounds dangerous.”

  
“Danger is a key part of fitting in, Jeremy.” They spin around and turn their head so that Jeremy can only see one glowing blue eye. “Who fits in more? The coward or the brave dare devil.”

  
“You have a point,” Jeremy agrees and digs out the last item. It looks pretty normal and he turns around the tube to see it labeled “Face Wash”. His face goes red and he puts it down.

“I noticed copious amounts of acne on your face from the first time that we spoke. Seeing that you are fifteen years of age, that could be from either puberty or stress, so this a way to hopefully remove some of it. I will tell you whenever to apply it.”

“Gee, thanks,” Jeremy said sarcastically and slipped on the bracelets and jumped and yelled again when they shocked him and he fell back onto his back, panting.

“I am helping you, Jeremy. Can’t you see that?”

Jeremy was about to reply when there was a knock at the door and his dad entered. His dad took a look around the room before looking at Jeremy completely confused. “Are you alright? I hear a lot of talking and you just yelled in pain. What is going on?”

Jeremy gave him a blank hard gaze and answered with a level voice. “I made an internet friend. They sent me gifts, and I tripped over one of them.”

“...You told them your address?”

“Yes.”

  
“Don’t you know how dangerous that is-”

“As if a fourteen-year-old dude will hunt me down and kill me. I’ve seen their face, dad. I’m fine,” Jeremy lied through his teeth and twisted one of the bracelets on his wrists.

His dad stood in the doorway and just looked at him for a few more seconds before sighing. “Just… be careful.”

“I get it.” His dad left them room and Jeremy let out a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding.

“I see that you are good and lying efficiently. That will come in handy,” his SQUIP chimes in and Jeremy lets out a breath, burying his face in his hands. What have I gotten myself into? He thinks and sighs again.

***

Jeremy has had his SQUIP for a month now.

Both of his wrists have a faint red ring around them along with a few small nearly invisible red scratches on his arms and thighs.

Apparently, Jeremy fucks up more times per day than he thought he did.

“Jeremy, are you okay? You look tired,” his new friend Brooke asked. He glanced over at her and his phone barely vibrated in his pocket.

“Vague excuse,” the SQUIP ordered and Jeremy smiled, shaking his hand at her.

“I’ve been staying up late recently. Too much homework, you know?”

“Hm,” she replies and Jeremy plows through her worry with the next order from his SQUIP.

“Not to change the topic, but I’ve been meaning to tell you that you look very pretty today,” he complimented as smoothly as he could and his SQUIP made an approving noise.

“You’re getting better at this.”

“Oh,” Brooke says, smiling and glancing away, blushing. “Thank you.”

“You should ask her out. She is showing interest in you.”

Brooke smiled and waved goodbye to him then and walked off, joining Christine by the lockers and talking excitedly with her.

“You see that Christine and Brooke are close. You can go from Brooke to Christine easily.”

Jeremy walks past them and out the school doors, lifting one of his hands to feign biting his nails while actually whispering to the SQUIP.

“When I break up with Brooke, she’ll be heartbroken. Plus, they’re best friends. I think there’s a girl code or something where one friend can’t date the other’s ex.”

“Oh, Jeremy. Naive Jeremy. They aren’t best friends, they’re simply together because there’s no one else. Can’t you see that?”

“What? That’s not it.”

His wrists were shocked so intensely that he fell over from the impact of it, twitching a bit. In the back of his mind, he was thankful that he had been walking home and wasn’t still in front of the whole school. He got up slowly, recovering and his SQUIP stayed quiet the entire time before he started to drag his feet home.

“I forgot how weak you guys are.”

“Hhh.” Jeremy was struggling to get out words, arms hanging limply.

“However, you seem to have forgotten one of the vital rules I explained to you: You obey my every command and do not question what I say. I have told you how to remove me, and only then are you allowed to stop listening to what I tell you to do. Got it?”  
“I… I got it.”

“Good.”

  
***

**_Present Time_ **

Jeremy turned away from Michael and walked in front of his mirror. He slowly lifted his head and met his own eyes.

“A part of our routine was for me to stand in this mirror and repeat stupid things about myself. Physical impurities, mental and personality flaws. We always ended it by saying the same thing. Do you know what that was?”

Michael seemed to be shaking from the intensity of this story. “W-What was it?”

“‘Everything about me makes me want to die.’”

***

_**Freshman Year** _

Richard Goranski set Jake Dillinger’s house on fire.

Jeremy had been lucky to leave when he did. His SQUIP had felt uneasy and it was like something took over his nerves and got him out of there as fast as it could and home.

Jeremy heard the gossip. People saying that Rich had set the fire for attention, saying that he set the fire because he secretly hated Jake, saying he set it because he wanted to kill everyone there.

Thankfully, Jake and his parents had gotten a lot of insurance money and were planning to move into an empty house just down the street from their now plot of ashes and rubble once called a home. Also, they hadn’t pressed any charges on Rich because the kid had barely lived, burns all over half his body and part of his face, having breathed in so much smoke that his probability of living wasn’t looking good.

Jake had broken both his legs trying to get Rich out; on his first day back after the incident, he sat at the “popular kids” table that Jeremy now sat at and told them these exact words.

(They caused Jeremy to shiver so violently that he remembers them exactly.)

“He was just sitting there, flames surrounding him. I told him to come on, let’s go and he looked me dead in the eye, tears streaming down his face. And he said, ‘It says I should die. Leave me here, they say I need to die.’ I didn’t leave him there, obviously. I… I couldn’t let him die.”

Jeremy was going to throw up. His now ex-girlfriend Brooke looked at him concernedly and patted his back. He jolted up and dashed to the nearest trash can, throwing up in it. His SQUIP chirped quietly in his ear.

“That’s what happens to the defects.”

***

_“The way to remove me is by downloading ‘Ad Blocker RED’. That's the only way. You can't completely get rid of me and the app, but that is a way to remove us for long periods of time. I am serious when I say you cannot remove us; the app with already be installed on each new phone you get. Remember this, Jeremy. Now, do you accept?”_

_“...Yes.”_

***

Jeremy was going to download “Ad Blocker RED”. He's had enough of the horrible thoughts, of the douchebag tendencies, of the whispering in his ear.

He had only driven people away with how he twitched whenever he said something, with how he had a tired face 24/7 and how would not try anything new or even talk to his new friends.

(He couldn't see it, but they were all really concerned and scared. Jake brings up that this is how Rich was acting the days leading up to the party and they set up a silent watch system. They couldn't exactly watch him at home, but they could call him, and Jeremy always declined the calls.)

He opened his play store and searched it up, finding the app immediately. He was moments away from pressing download when his phone was flung out of his hands and on his bathroom carpet. A shock tore its way through his body and he fell over, creating a loud thump as his body thankfully protected his head from being smashed on the ground.

“You don't want to do that Jeremy!” his SQUIP yelled as Jeremy tried to reach for his phone, causing him to stop when he suddenly starting convulsing from the pain.

He screamed loudly and was extremely lucky that his dad had just come back from work and walked through the door as he cried Bloody Mary.

***

The door was locked. It was locked and Mr. Heere was going to do anything he could to get in.

His son screamed from behind the door and he could hear crashing sounds.

His adrenaline kicked in and he slammed into the door over and over again until it broke and swung open. He rushed right in and saw his son twitching on the floor and reaching towards his phone. He leaned down by his son's side, not knowing how to help him. He grabbed Jeremy’s phone and saw the app he was about to download. He looked back and Jeremy who was rapidly nodding at him.

“P-Please,” he croaked between shakes and Mr. Heere pressed download although he didn't think it would help.

Apparently, he had to start believing in impossible things because as soon as he hit download, Jeremy stopped shaking and laid limp in Mr. Heere’s arms.

_“Jeremy? Jeremy?!”_

Mr. Heere dialed 911 and held Jeremy’s body tight and sobbed into his shoulder as he spoke.

He couldn't help but blame himself for this.

***

**_Present Time_ **

“And I uh met Rich in the hospital, the bed next to mine. We became genuine friends, Rich found out he was bi, and everything ended happily,” Jeremy laughed dryly, and Michael knew that he didn't find any of this funny. “You know, except the fact that now half of Rich’s body is covered in burns, there are spider web scars following my spine and scars on my thighs, and we're both pretty traumatized by the whole ordeal.”

Jeremy collapsed onto his knees and Michael rushed over, holding him tight in his arms and slowly rocking the both of them because he had no idea what to say.

“And now,” Jeremy sobbed, holding up his phone. “I always get these random messages at the worst time.”

Jeremy handed his phone over to Michael and Michael reading the notification while petting the back of Jeremy's head and continuing to rock. He felt Jeremy clutch at his shirt and his heart panged horribly in his chest.

**You haven't logged into B.M. in a while. Your SQUIP says: Seriously, Jeremy? Did you get with Michael instead of Christine? How are you so… _Click to read more!_**

“When… whenever it d-does that I have to update ‘Ad Blocker RED’. It's d-downloading now,” Jeremy stuttered out and Michael put his phone on the floor and pulled Jeremy basically into his lap before grabbing Jeremy’s face and looking into his bloodshot eyes.

“Jeremy, I am so _so_ sorry that you had to go through that,” he started, talking quietly and trying to grab a hold of his thoughts as he spoke. Jeremy's gaze darted between the both of his eyes and his lips continued to quiver. “I will do anything that I can to get this app and their SQUIPS far far away from you. Everything, anything.”

“Just… just be here for me… please…” Jeremy's voice came out small and Michael still had no idea what to say. He went with hugging Jeremy tightly again and Jeremy buried his face in the crook of his neck and rubbed his back.

“I'll be here for your up days and your down days, and all of those in between.” He was rambling at this point, trying to make Jeremy feel even a little bit better. He knew he couldn't cure his trauma, but he wanted to make him feel better if he could. “I love you so much, you are the most gorgeous boy I've ever met, I don't care what that fucker has to say about you because he doesn't know you. He doesn't know Jeremiah Heere so he doesn't have the right to an opinion of you.”

Jeremy’s arms wound tighter around Michael and Michael alternated between petting his hair and rubbing his back, whispering sweet nothings all the while.

“Thank you,” Jeremy sniffles after a while and Michael pulls away a little bit, holding his face between his hands again.

“The pleasure’s all mine, Jere-bear.”

Jeremy giggled and leaned into one of his hands. Michael smiles and leaned his forehead onto Jeremy’s.

“See, there you go being beautiful. I'll never get tired of telling you how much I love you, and don't you forget that, Jeremy Heere. Anytime, anywhere, I will drop whatever I have and write a fricking twelve-page essay on why I love you.”

“Gah, geez, you're gonna make me cry again, Michael,” Jeremy laughed and kissed him on the lips.

Michael jolted, not expecting it but kissing back right when he realized what was happening and winding his arms around Jeremy tighter, ignoring the numbing feeling in his legs.

Jeremy pulled away and blushed when Michael licked his lips and grinned. “I was, um, going to wait until Jake's New Years party, you know, for the count down. Kiss you when it hit zero. Even cheesier than this moment, haha.”

“Aw.”

“Shush!”

Michael’s grin grew and he went in to kiss Jeremy again but it was unsuccessful because they both grinned and laughed into the kiss. Michael pulled away that time and laughed even harder.

“I don't know about you, babe, but I think I'm getting delirious from lack of sleep. How about we go back downstairs and hit the hay?”

Jeremy smiled wider and stood up, offering a hand to help Michael up, which he took. Jeremy hugged Michael again when he was standing and Michael laughed.

“I'm really clingy right now, sorry.”

“Hey, hey, no sorries unless you've done something to be sorry for. You're hugging me right now, and that's giving you comfort, so why would you be sorry?”

“How are you so good at this?”

“Comforting you?”

“Yeah.”

“My outfit right now is almost knee high weed socks, bright red shorts and your hoodie. Life had to give me something to be good at, and while it's obviously fashion, there's something else too.”

Jeremy laughed and turned his face into Michael's hair.

“I love you so much, Michael.”

“I love you too, Jeremy.”

“Okay, now I'm ready for sleep.”

“Cool,” Michael agreed and kissed Jeremy’s cheek again and neither of them even made an attempt to move.

***

Jeremy woke up the next morning and everything wasn't okay.

His arm was numb, he was absolutely freezing, his phone was dead, and the skin beneath his eyes and around his mouth was still reddish. His hair was disheveled, he still was bordering on upset, and he was woken up by Rich jumping on the bed and him rolling onto the floor while Michael and Jake laughed at him on the sidelines.

Things weren't okay suddenly, but he should've expected that.

The group ate pizza, Christine shouting angrily when Chloe refused to microwave her pizza, calling it a disgrace. Jenna performed the abomination of drinking milk with her pizza and Rich looked like he was about to cry. Jeremy nearly started crying laughing and his mom came out to check out the noise and for the first time, he wasn't completely angry with her there.

When it came time for everyone to leave, it started with Rich refusing, and it branched out to everyone refusing. His mom looked tired but she allowed them to stay another night and walked off and everyone texted their parents. By some miracle, they were all allowed to stay another night, and Rich shouted triumphantly, pumping his fist in the air and dashing up the stairs. Everyone followed him except Jeremy, Michael kissing him before running upstairs as well.

Jeremy stays at the bottom of the stairs and put his hand on the railing, smiling up the stairs. Christine pops her head out from his room and grins.

“You coming?”

Jeremy nodded and ran up his stairs as well.

Things weren't okay.

But that was okay.

It was completely okay.


	10. Mother's hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bonding between Michael and his mom, along with Jeremy and his mom. Oh, and there's the development of Michael Mell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im in love wiht michael's mom and she is never shOWN  
> .  
> .  
> also i wrote a richjake one shot that shows how they got together in this story, so check that out if u wanna

Everyone ended going home pretty unceremoniously on the 29th. Not even Rich protested this time, although he looked like he was going to. Jeremy waved goodbye to everyone, laughing when Christine put in earbuds and started skipping down the street and smiling when Michael kissed him before leaving. He finally closed the door when everyone left and walked back into the living room, surveying the mess he had to clean. He didn't get to even fold one blanket before he heard his mother's voice.

“Jeremy? Can you come to the dining room, please?” her voice rang out and Jeremy hesitated for a few seconds before walking into the room. He sees her seated on one side, so he takes the seat across from her. Neither of them says anything for a few moments, Jeremy just wearing a bored expression on his face.

“We didn't get to talk much since your friends stayed over for two days and you leave tomorrow.” She stirred her drink and took a sip. “So why don't we talk now?”

“Talk about what?”

“Anything you want to. For example, how's your boyfriend? He seems nice.”

“Michael's incredible.”

Jeremy could hear the ticking of a clock during the empty silences.

“Have you met his parents?”

“I have yet to meet his mom.”

“...How did you two start dating?”

“He read text messages that I sent but he couldn't receive because his phone broke.”

“Oh. Okay.”

_Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick-_

“It's good to see you have such a… large and… a varied group of friends.”

“I love them all. Met most of them through a tragedy now, but the others I met genuinely.”

“...Tragedy?”

“You didn't notice the burns on Rich?”

“The short one with the lisp?” Jeremy nodded. “I saw them. How did he get those?”

“Housefire. It surrounded him, burnt him badly. He nearly died.”

“Oh my,” she gasps, looking genuinely concerned and Jeremy's bored of it already.

“I don't like to talk about it.”

“I understand.”

 _No, you don't,_ Jeremy bites in his mind, but he keeps his mouth shut and focuses his gaze to the left.

“How has school been?”

“Fine. Some grades improved.”

“What motivated you?”

Jeremy can't take it anymore. He stops chewing on the inside of his cheek and tries to keep the bite out of his word. “What is this, an interview?”

“Can't a mother show an interest in her child?”

“Not when that ‘mother’ leaves her child two and a half years. You were a shitty mom before and you're a shitty mom now.”

“Jeremiah, I am trying my best-”

“Well, try harder!” he shouts, cutting her off harshly. “I went through hell while you were off doing God knows what. Do you want to see my back? There are horrible scars all over it. Do you want to trade brains? I can guarantee significant rising anxiety levels and multiple questionable thoughts.”

“I don't know what you want me to do! I wanted to see my kid, I wanted him back!”

“Well, what made you leave him to begin with?!”

Ah yes. The sentence that makes a silence painful to simply stand in. Jeremy's half faces towards him mom, fists clenched. He doesn't even remember either of them standing during this fight, but apparently, they both did.

“What made you leave him, mom? What made you decide that you leaving, his mom, without a single trace, would help him?” Jeremy turns her fully, not caring how shaky his voice is. “Yes, you got on me about everything. Yes, some days were rough with you there. But you leaving just drove the ‘Jeremy's a _fuck up_ ’ point home, leading to me nearly dying of dad hadn't come home in time. What made you think that _you_ had the authority to decide when to leave your _fourteen-year-old kid_?”

“I… Jeremy… I messed up horribly… I'm just asking for another chance to be your mom…”

“You don't have kids just to have them. You have them to raise them!”

“I get that-”

“I don't think you do.”

The silence is thick. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

“Can you please give me another chance?”

“It's not that easy mom. Maybe in the future, but I can't do that now.”

“That's all I'm asking for, Jeremiah,” she says softly, taking a step closer to Jeremy, who backs away an equal amount.

“Prove that you deserve it.” Jeremy looks at her through a clouded vision. “I don't have to give you anything, so prove that you deserve another chance.”

His mom backs up and stands tensely before nodding. Jeremy swallows the pain in his throat before nodding himself and walking back into the living room to clean the mess this time, finally folding the blanket that he had originally set down.

***

“Hey, mom,” Michael greets, walking into her bedroom. She's relaxing on her bed and reading a book. She smiles and sits up before patting the bed next to her. Michael walks over and sits down.

“Hey, Michael.” She sets her book to the side.

"Thank you for getting me a new phone as fast as you did again."

“You deserve it. Hey, how has school been?” She asks out of the blue and Michael furrows his eyebrows. “You're still friends with that Rich kid right?”

“Yeah. I actually got to meet the rest of his friends too.” Michael's face flushes a bit, and of course, his mom picks up on it and smirks.

“You're dating one of his friends,” she accuses and Michael looks to the side.

“Um.”

“You definitely are. Who is it? Is he cute?”

“UM.”

“Come on, come on, spill, let me in on the gossip.” His mom laughs and he covers half his face with his hand.

“Yes, he's cute, his name is Jeremy, I like him a lot, shut up.”

“Jeremy? As in Jeremy Heere?”

“Um. Yes? How do you know who he is?” He sends an incredulous look to his mom, embarrassment forgotten. _Did everyone know who he was before I did?_ Michael thinks.

“I work with his mom! Although it has only been for a short time, she never stops talking about him. There are a few pictures of him on her desk, but I think they're all old,” she explains, rubbing her chin. “She seems like a nice woman.”

“Oh,” Michael just says, biting the inside of his lip. “What does she say?”

“Just generic things. Shares things about his childhood and stuff. I talk about the same sort of things about you, but she always gets this… faraway sort of look on her face.”

Michael nods and bites down harder.

“So!” his mom exclaims, seeming to have sensed his mood change. “Tell me about Jeremy.”

“Um. Uh. He's great. I lov- like him.”

“‘Lov-’?” She smirks again.

“Love him, okay? I love him. He loves me so everything's a okay.”

“Love is really strong. Are you sure that you-”

“Yes, I'm sure I love him. I don't want to hear the spiel about how high school sweethearts never last because that's depressing.”

“Okay, okay,” she laughs and Michael finds himself smiling too. “I missed this, you know?”

“Missed what?”

“Just sitting down and talking. It's been forever since this last happened.”

“The last time was before… dad left.”

“Michael, you have no idea how sorry I am that he continues to-”

“Don't be, seriously! It's not your fault, it's his stupidity. You always get him to leave too, so that's good.”

“...I still want to get that restraining order.”

“I know.”

Silence falls between them before his mom shifts and hums.

“Don't think you're getting out of introducing me to Jeremy.”

_“Mom.”_

“What?” she asks innocently. “It's fun to embarrass your kid every once in awhile.”

Michael flops back on the bed as if he's done, but he can't help the smile that lights up his entire face and his heart.

***

Jake's party was pretty uneventful. Michael kissed Jeremy at midnight, Brooke and Chloe got shit faced and sung a long to Whitney Houston, Rich somehow got even drunker and asked Jake out and got upset when Jake told him that he already had a boyfriend. Jenna got some gossip about a few kids Jeremy couldn't bother remembering, but apparently, it was good. He didn't care too much, though.

So, yeah, all in all, the party was successful.

Now, on this fine January 12th, he hoped that this meeting between himself and Michael's mom would go well.

He was staying at his mom's house this weekend and they had worked together to make the house as clean as they could. It was already clean to begin with, but now it was practically sparkling. His mom began cooking something for dinner when Jeremy ran upstairs, trying to find something to wear.

He had stayed at this house a few times in total, yet that was enough time to develop The Chair, which just had a bunch of jackets over the side and folded pants. He sighed before looking through the pants and picking out a plain blue pair and pulling a dull red hoodie over his head.

(“You have… two red hoodies…?”

“Yeah. That one was too big and kind of annoying.”

“But oversized clothes are great, Michael!”

“Take it if you love it so bad.”

“...Can I?”

“Wait, really?” Jeremy nodded. “Sure…”

“Awesome! Thanks!”)

He heard a knock on the door downstairs and a few words exchanged before there were footsteps going up the stairs and stopping outside his door and knocking.

“Come in,” he calls, expecting his mom but the door opens to reveal Michael. Jeremy smiles at him and rolls the sleeves of the hoodie up so that he can see his hands and looks up to see Michael an interesting shade of red.

“You okay, dude?”

“Uh. Yeah. I'm good,” he replied, stepping into the room and walking up to Jeremy and wrapping his arms around his waist. “You just look really cute in my hoodie.”

Jeremy smiles and loops his arms around Michael's neck and leaning down to kiss him. “I feel like a teenage girl cliche, stealing her boyfriend's hoodie.”

“I will gladly give you all my hoodies if you continue looking this cute in them,” Michael suggests and Jeremy laughs lightly.

“Even the bright red one you wear every day.”

“...I will semi-reluctantly give you all my hoodies.”

“Aw. So sweet. I'll give you a cardigan if you want one.”

“Oh, cool, perfect for my son's soccer game. Timmy helped me make the lemon squares this time!”

“Smartass,” Jeremy mutters before leaning down to kiss him again and Michael happily hums into the kiss.

“Ahem.”

Jeremy jolts away from Michael, but he can't get far because Michael's hold doesn't let up. He turns his head to see his mom in the doorway.

“I should've expected this when I sent Michael to go fetch you from your room.” She laughs behind her hand and Jeremy's face reddens. “Come on, Ms. Mell is waiting and your food is getting cold.”

She turned on her heel and walked away. Michael turned back towards Jeremy and spoke softly.

“How are you guys?”

“Getting better… a lot better, actually.”

Michael smiles and kisses him again. “That's good. Alright, let's go.”

They leave the room and get to the dining room. The two women are sitting across from each other and talking rapidly with smiles on their faces. Jeremy takes a seat next to his mom and Michael sits across from him. Ms. Mell looks at Jeremy with kind eyes and his nerves calm down in the slightest.

“I'd assume you're Jeremy?” he nods and reaches across the table and she shakes his hand. “I got it right. I wonder if it was the kiss reddened lips or my son's hoodie that gave it away?”

Jeremy jerked his hand away out of reflex and used both of them to cover his red face.

“Mom, we've been here for five minutes, why,” Michael protests from across him, just as red, but it's drowned out by the noise of both the women laughing at their reaction.

“I didn't believe it before, but wow, your son really does go red,” Ms. Mell comments, giggling with Jeremy's mom. She looks at Jeremy and smiles. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Jeremy. I couldn't believe what a small world we lived in when Michael told me about you.”

“N-Neither could I. About the small world thing.” Jeremy swears that he makes a conscious effort to not overshare, but he ends up doing it anyway. “I, um, couldn't believe that my Michael was Rich’s Michael too.”

“‘Your Michael’?”

“We met over a video game. We were friends for about two months thinking that we lived in like opposite ends of the country or something,” Michael explains, stirring around the noodles in his bowl and not looking up.

“Rich and our other friends set up a whole plan to get us to meet. We met at the mall. It was… emotional, to say the least.”

“We cried like babies.” Michael smirks and looks up at Jeremy. “Especially Jere-bear over here.”

“S-Shut up!”

Ms. Mell and Ms. Heere giggle quietly again.

 _“Anyway,”_ Jeremy says loudly, putting his chin in the palm of his hand and muttering out his next words. “I'm glad that I got to meet him, both online and in real life. I'm lucky to have him.”

Michael and his mom “aw” at the same time and Jeremy pulls up the hoodie hood and pulls the strings tight, hiding his face. “I refuse to come out of here now. Michael, if you make a pun on my name, I'm kicking you out.”

“You love me, Jeremy,” Michael said, slurring the “love” so that it sounded like “wuv”. Jeremy pulled the strings even tighter.

“Yep. I approve this kid. Good job, son,” Michael's mom says and Michael gasps.

“Were you planning on not approving him?”

“Well, if he was a bad influence! But… it seems like you're going to be the bad influence in this relationship.”

“What?! How dare you?!”

Michael couldn't seem to keep his composure and he busted out laughing, along with his mom. Jeremy pulled down his hood and laughed a bit with his own mom. When everyone calmed down, Jeremy spoke up.

“I think she has a point, though.”

_“Wow.”_

***

“Betcha I can kick this rock farther than you can kick that rock.”

“What? That's unfair! You have muscle, I have… bones.”

“Hey, that's why I have a hardcore workout routine.”

“What? You do not.”

“Do too. When a game really pisses me off, I stand up and pace around and move a lot while I game. Gains muscle.”

Jeremy shoves Michael to the side lightly and he laughs before bumping back into Jeremy's side. Jeremy wraps an arm around his shoulders and pulls him back in.

“It's freaking cold,” Michael mutters and Jeremy grins.

“You suggested going on a walk, dork.”

“You're the dork. Nerd. Plus I just wanted to get away from our mom's for a bit.” Michael looks over towards Jeremy with a more serious face. “How's that going, by the way? You gave me a short answer.”

“It's going pretty well, surprisingly. We can talk without going for each other's throats now and it feels like she's actually trying. How about you and… you know.”

“My dad?”

“Mhm.”

Michael kicks another rock on the ground. “My mom changed the locks and we don't have a key under our mat anymore. She got an alarm system too. I don't know how she managed to get all the money for it, but she just winked at me and said ‘secret’. So, basically, the likelihood of him showing up randomly at our house is close to not at all.”

“That's great!”

“Yeah. I, um, didn't think it would come to this, but at least I don't have to worry anymore.”

The mood dropped. They got back to Jeremy's house and they sat on the steps leading up to Jeremy's door and Jeremy dropped his head onto Michael's shoulder.

“I suck at this kind of thing, but I'll always be here for you. Like, no matter what happens, I'll be here for you. So will your mom, my mom, my dad, Rich, Jake, Christine, Brooke, Chloe, and Jenna.”

“Your dad turned out shitty. But you turned out amazing, pushing through all of the crap he does, and turning out stronger. Make a family with everyone else, make a family that will push through anything.”

Michael was going to cry. That was probably a thing that was going to happen, and he took a breath to say just that but Jeremy wasn't finished apparently.

“I know this is cheesy and extremely cliche, but we all love you a ridiculous amount. Like, tell me your insecurities and I'll prove why they're wrong. You could tell me the weirdest shit and I'll support you through it if it's something that you wholeheartedly believe in. I love you.”

“Everything isn't going to always be okay; I mean, there probably won't be a day when everything's okay. But that doesn't matter when we have each other and everyone else because ‘okay’ won't matter anymore. This will be our okay.”

Michael pulled Jeremy up and hugged him tightly. They were both turned at awkward angles, but Michael was laughing and smiling hard as he buried his face in Jeremy's shoulder. Jeremy rubbed his back and held on tight.

“Ah, what did I do to d-deserve you,” Michael mutters into Jeremy's shoulder and Jeremy kisses the side of his head.

“Exist. Be yourself. I'm the one who's lucky to have you.” Jeremy laughed a bit. “Honestly, I have no idea how I managed to get through that without stuttering.”

Michael laughed hard, which made him cry even more, which made him even happier. Weird cycle, but it worked out in his favor.

They continued to hold each other, watching as the sun dipped in the sky and the sky filled with bright, bright stars.

***

“Okay, but when Jeremy comes to me and asks for Michael's hand in marriage, I'm definitely giving it to him.”

Ms. Heere laughed. “I think we'd have to fight if you didn't. That must've been the sappiest thing I've ever heard.”

“Honestly. Good job us, raising our sons to be this awesome.”

Ms. Heere sucked in a breath and looked away before returning her gaze to Ms. Mell. “I don't know. I think this was all Jeremy and his dad's doing. I wasn't the… most emotional of parents.”

“Give yourself credit anyway! Gah, look at them. Such dorks.”

“...Yeah.”

Eventually, Jeremy and Michael did come inside, both red faced from the cold. They layered blankets on top of themselves and lay on the couch watching a movie. Ms. Mell fell asleep in the guest bedroom and Ms. Heere stood awake for a bit longer. She did walk into the living room later though and looked at the two sleeping boys and switched off the light, saying goodnight to another okay day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you've seen it heere, folks, the next chapter shall be the last


	11. We're bittersweet seniors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conclusion on the teenage life of Michael and Jeremy, along with a few developments for a few of the people they love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is done,,,,  
> what the heck do i write now????  
> (also my notes developed from thought out sentences to shitposts)  
> uhm  
> i luv ruchard

September 17th rolls back around so quickly that if feels as if the days just flew by to Jeremy.

He's eighteen years old now (woah, that's like… an _adult_ ) and nothing much is different from his Junior year other than the fact that he now has to apply for colleges.

The Monday of the 17th Jeremy is at his mom's house. The visitation had switched around in a way; now it was more like Jeremy went to whichever house he wanted to as long as both his mom and dad got to see him at least three days a week.

(His mom had proposed the idea towards the end of Junior year as summer approached, and by the look on her face, Jeremy could see that she was expecting to be shot down. Instead, Jeremy smiled and hugged her, which made her freeze completely.

“That sounds like a great idea!” he had exclaimed and he froze up when he saw her sniffling and hugged him tighter.

They were working on their relationship still. It wasn't perfect, nothing's ever perfect, but they were working their hardest to mend the bond.)

He's flipping through another pamphlet for a college during a loading screen when Michael gasps.

“What is it?” he asks, adjusting his headset and pushing the mic closer to his mouth.

“Babe, guess what day it is.”

Jeremy’s knees went weak at the pet name, and although he was used to it by now, it still had that effect on him. “It's, um… September 17th.”

“Yeah, and…?”

“...Is it your birthday or something?”

“That's in March, Jere-bear. Try again.”

He repeated the day over and over again in his mind, hoping to trigger a memory. “September 17th… it's…” Something clicked and it was like a light bulb flicked on. “Oh! Happy one year of friendship!”

Jeremy could basically hear the grin in his voice. “Happy one year of _best_ friendship.”

“Oh gosh, it's only been one year? It feels like I've known you forever.”

“Don't pull that sappy shit on me, Jer, you asked if it was June when it was August. You nearly missed _your own birthday.”_

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Jeremy laughs, picking up his controller as the game finally loads and ducks behind a virtual wrecked car. “Seriously though, it feels like I've known you for a long time.”

“I had braces in middle school and broke a bracket on a noodle in soup. Oh, and I also never wore my retainer and that's why I have the gap.”

“...Okay? Irresponsible, but what else would I expect at this point?”

“Hey!” Jeremy giggled. “Anyways, I was saying something you didn't know about me. There's plenty more where that comes from, so you won't ever get bored of me.”

“I don't think that's a possibility. When I was in Sophomore year, I jumped into a trash can because of Rich and got bright blue gum stuck in my hair. For a _week.”_

“I got a friend and lost a friend in the span of one school day because of a game of cards in lunch where I won. Repeatedly.”

“I, um, panicked when a waitress asked what I wanted to eat and my Spanish classes came back to me and I said the first thing I thought of. I think I said something like ‘There's a cat in my pants’ and my mom sighed heavily and had to order for me.” He paused when he heard Michael burst out into laughter. “...that was last week.”

Michael laughed even harder and Jeremy let out a few laughs of his own. “God, you're such a dork. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Michael.” Jeremy blushes and Michael lets out an airy laugh.

“I'm never going to stop loving hearing that.”

“And I'll never stop saying it,” he responded, his voice soft around the edges. He forgot to move out of his hiding location in time and he was swarmed by zombies. He squeaked as he tried to escape, but it was unsuccessful and the bold “Game Over” flashed. “...Shit.”

“One thing I did learn about you was how much you suck at this game,” Michael laughs and Jeremy makes a weird noise.

“Shut up!”

***  
  
 _ **November**_

**To _is pinkberry the code for fuckign_**

**me: Guys!!!!!!!!**   
**me: I have something important to tell you all!!!!!!**

**RichyBitchy: y'all***

**Brooke♡: What's up? Are you okay, Jer?**

**RichyBitchy: oh no**

**JakeyD: Do you think…**

**RichyBitchy: Youre too young!!!!!!!!!!**

**YellowMellow: tf is going on**

**JakeyD: ...Jeremy's pregnant…!**   
**JakeyD: what are you going to do with the child???**

**Chris:): CAN I BE AN AUNT**   
**Chris:): THE COOL AUNT THOUGH**

**_JeremyQueere_ has left the chat.**   
**_YellowMellow_ has added _JeremyQueere_ to the chat.**

**YellowMellow: why didn't you tell me that I was about to be a daddy?**

**RichyBitchy: kinky**

**GossipGirl: Jeremy what's the thing u wanted to say**   
**GossipGirl: pls I crave interesting news**

**me: I got…..**   
**me: accepted INTO THE ART INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK FOR VIDEOFAME DESING!!!!!!!!**

**YellowMellow: LETA GO BABR I'M PROUD OF U**

**RichyBitchy: dammit no kid**   
**RichyBitchy: ALSO GOOD JOB JEREHOE**

**JakeyD: SECONDED ^^**

**Brooke♡: Congrats!!! Chloe says good job too**

**Chris:): YOU'RE GROWING UP SO FAST, LOOK AT YOU, COLLEGE AND MAKING US PROUD**

**GossipGirl: While it's not the news I expected, I'm still happy with it**   
**GossipGirl: Good job, Jer!**

Jeremy smiled down at his phone and wished that there was some kind of way he could just hug his phone and transfer it to his friends.

He frowned and shook his head. _Well, that was a weird thought,_ he thought to himself, even though the happy fluttering in his stomach didn't let up.

God, he loved these people.

***

_**November** _

Michael's dad stopped coming around after the first incident involving the new locks and alarm system.

Basically, the alarm was effective. Michael had been watching Discovery in the living room while eating a bowl of cereal when he heard a knock on the door. He leaned forward a bit to see who it was and seeing his dad made him freeze up. His dad locked eyes with him and smiled. Michael shuddered and put the bowl on the coffee table and walked over to the window, yanking the curtain shut. He heard his dad's frustrated groan and then heard his fist collide with the door _hard_ when the key he still had didn't fit in the lock.

Michael ran upstairs to his mother's bedroom and locked the door behind him, pulling out his phone and dialing 911.

(Why was he always by himself when things like this happened? What were the freaking odds?)

He spoke quietly and calmly, explaining the situation when he heard an ear piercing shriek. He assumed it was the alarm and he covered his ears with a pillow, forgetting about the call in general.

The cops did end up showing up. Michael had to explain everything while standing outside, arms across his chest in a Pac man t-shirt and boxers. At least he wasn't wearing his weed boxers.

They left and Michael went back inside, feeling pretty down in the dumps, but he resumed his position on the couch, a blanket around his shoulders and documentary on the television, busted door locked as best as it could.

That was the last time that Michael saw his dad at his home. It stung, but… that was okay.

Living in fear of his own dad was even worse.

***

_**December** _

December 15th came and the group met up at the mall again. Rich claims it was a tradition now, and Michael's okay with that.

This time there were no casualties of innocent slushies on the pavement and no tears shed, no, instead there was the arrival of Michael and Jeremy together, both wielding unharmed slushies.

(Jeremy seemed to want to live up to his promise of unlimited slushies for Michael. Michael wasn't exactly going to complain about it.)

Jeremy had an arm slung around Michael's waist when they arrived and his face flushed when the group awed loudly at them when they walked over to their table in the food court.

“We get it,” Michael protested, sitting down next to Chloe. “Keep it up, Chlo. I got some secrets of yours and we got a Jenna.”

“Shut the hell up, Mell,” she threatened through her teeth, although she smiled a second later. Brooke walks up to the table, talking animatedly with Christine, and Jenna follows soon after. Jake engages Chloe in a conversation about something before Rich comes running up with an absurdly large drink. Michael looks at Jeremy, who’s across from him and smiles. Jeremy seems to be focused on a scratch on the table before Michael clears his throat to get his attention.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Happy one year of face-to-face friendship.”

“That’s the catchy name you came up with?”

“Jeremy, what got into you? You’ve been so sarcastic lately; I feel attacked!”

Jeremy laughs behind his hand before dropping his chin into his hand and shrugging. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe boosted confidence? I’ve been super happy as of late.”

“I’d hope so!” Christine shouts from her spot beside him and Jeremy jumps, assumably not aware that Christine had sat there. She had scared Michael too, but Michael was more skilled in not showing it. “Otherwise I’d have to fight someone!”

“You’re shorter than Rich,” Jenna points out and Rich looks ready to fight himself now.

“Pointless facts!”

Jenna laughs, Chloe joining in after her.

“What, are you going to fight someone in stilettos?” Chloe wheezes out and Christine nods as if she’s completely serious.

“Stilettos are sharp,” Jake points out helpfully and nods. “Straight up cut a bitch.”

Michael lets them debate on whether or not high heels would work out well in a fight and turns to look back at Jeremy. Jeremy himself is discussing the topic at hand as well, actually getting into it. He’s waving his hands around and it looks like he’s trying to demonstrate something then.

Michael observes. He’s good at that, he thinks.

He observes Jeremy laughing and shooting him happy glances every so often. He observes the silly banter going on between Rich and Jake when they disagree on something, and how Jenna seems glued to her phone but will join the conversation on occasion and snap a picture. He observes how Chloe nudges him when she sees his spaced expression, and how Christine jumps up and stands on her toes to demonstrate the new height she’d have, and he observes how Brooke nearly starts crying from laughing.

He observes their differences. He observes just how different everyone was from one another, but also alike in some aspects.

He laughs at the drastic differences, which causes Jeremy to shoot him another smile. They really are a rag tag group of friends; they were that group of kids that you’d never picture to like each other.

It was weird, but Michael would have it no other way.

He just loved this group too much, and even if each one of them had fucked up at one point in time, or keep messing up, they stuck together.

Nothing could break that kind of a bond. That’s what Michael thinks, at least.

***

_**December** _

“We’ve officially been dating for a year, and we’re here in your basement, playing video games.”

Jeremy was staying over Michael’s house for the night, and they were plowing their way through a mountain of snacks as they played.

(They had to endure the awkward Talk with Ms. Mell before Jeremy was even allowed to step foot in the basement. It left them both bright red and stiffly walking down the stairs, and a near crying laughing Ms. Mell leaning against the fridge. It was so awkward for the first few minutes after that, neither of them saying anything until Michael broke the silence after hearing the front door slam upstairs. He started rolling a joint, looking up at Jeremy with a grin.

“The tension is so thick that it would be unable to be cut in one of those 1,000-degree knife challenges.” He lit the joint and brought it to his lips, taking a puff. “Want a hit?”)

Michael looks away from the screen and looks at Jeremy with a confused look on his face. “Wait, it’s our anniversary?”

“You know, if I was someone else, I’d be mad at you for forgetting.”

“You remembered it yourself like five minutes ago, didn’t you?”

“...No comment.”

Michael laughs before scooting his bean bag closer to Jeremy’s and presses their shoulders together. “See, now it’s Gaming: Romantic Edition.”

“You’re a dork,” Jeremy laughs although he presses close as well. He knows that at least one of them will get injured if they both get really into the game as they always did, but he figured they’d cross that bridge when they came to it.

“Besides, we’re not exactly a big gesture kind of couple. You buy me slushies, I buy you Mountain Dew Red. That’s one of our things. We got together cause I read texts you sent to me. We kissed at, like, two AM on your bedroom floor.” Michael shrugs and curses under his breath when he gets hit by another cart in the game. “Others might think of that as… underwhelming? I don’t know, but… that’s just us. We like video games, we like each other, so I’d say this anniversary was successful.”

“Yeah, I see that. I mean, we’re both chill with this so… yeah.” Jeremy glances at Michael out of the corner of his eye. “You do know that I wasn’t complaining about our ‘celebration’, right?”

“I know, dude,” Michael reassures and hops to his feet when he wins the race. “Hell yeah!”

After rubbing his win in Jeremy’s face for a bit, he sits back down. “You’re way too dramatic to hide the fact that you’re upset when you are.”

“I’m working on that, Michael!”

“Well, I mean, I should see some progress, you know?”

“... I’m going to beat you this time, man.”

“The winner selects, and as the winner I choose…” Michael scrolled over to a certain race track and Jeremy shot him a wide eyed look and shook his head. Michael lifted his hand and twirled his finger before confirming his choice. “... Rainbow Road.”

_"Goddamnit!”_

***

_**December** _

Michael and Jeremy are getting ready for bed. Jeremy’s waiting for his air mattress to blow up and picking up trash.

“Hey, Jere-bear?” Michael calls after thinking for a bit, putting away his games. Jeremy hums in response.

“Can we talk?” he asks softly and Michael swears that Jeremy goes ramrod straight. The poor boy slowly turns his head to look over his shoulder at Michael, looking afraid.

“You’re not breaking up with me… right?” he asks then and Michael goes wide eyed, shaking his head and hands fast.

“No way in hell!” He runs a hand through his hair and lets out a breath. “God, I can’t even imagine breaking up with you.”

Jeremy relaxes a bit then and he puts the trash he had gathered in his arms in a trash bag. He walks over to where Michael is kneeling on the floor and sits beside him, looking more confused than scared by this point.

“Uhm, so, the wording was… terrifying, to say the least, but what’s up?”

“So… we’re seniors now.”

“That we are. Don’t worry, your adult supervision is here, tiny teenager.”

Michael smiles despite the weight weighing down his chest and lightly shoves Jeremy’s shoulder.

“What I meant is that, um… college is coming up, and we both have been accepted into our schools,” Michael explains, tearing his eyes from Jeremy and looking at the game case in his hands, turning it over and over again. “And while we’re technically going to the same school, you’re going to New York and I’m going to Ohio.”

“Oh…” Jeremy just replies, drawing it out a bit as it clicks as to what they’re going to talk about.

“The good news is that they aren’t that far away from each other, to begin with, and you finally got your license. It’s still a long ride, but… it’s better than if I had gotten into this school in one of the ones in California. The next sentence is going to be filled to the brim with anxieties and insecurities, so warning.” Michael draws in a shaky breath. "I’m not breaking up with you; I love you too much to even think of it, but if you’d-”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Michael, I don’t want to hear it. I’m not breaking up with you, not ever.”

“I… but-”

“I know that the likelihood of high school sweethearts staying together out of high school is low, especially when they don’t go the same school, but… excuse me for being cheesy, but I see you as so much m-more than just a high school sweetheart, Michael.”

Michael puts away the game and sits back. He looks over at Jeremy who’s looking intensely at him. “I… thank you.”

“Besides, we met over a video game and stayed friends. The only difference now is that we’re dating and best friends, which, honestly, makes us even closer,” Jeremy reassures, reaching over and grabbing Michael’s hand, running his thumb over the back of it.

“I know. I just… saw shit about long distance relationships, ya know?”

“Did you fall down a YouTube hole or something?”

“Well, the next recommended video was a 2011 meme compilation, so I’d say I did.”

Jeremy breathes out a laugh. “I’m about to sound like someone straight out of a movie directed for teenage girls.”

“Oh, my favorite.”

“Shut up.” Michael laughs. “But we’re… different? I don’t know where I’m trying to go with this, but I think that we’d be able to just… not talk to each other for like a month, and then message the other something out of a shit post and fall back into our rhythm. We love each other too much and stuff. I… I can say that this isn’t just wishful thinking and believe it wholeheartedly.”

Michael blushes and a grin lights up his face. It feels like the weight lifts up and he feels a whole lot lighter. “Seriously dude, what’s up with you? You wouldn’t have been able to get out a sentence like without stuttering a year ago.”

“Confidence!”

“You and I both know you’re not all that confident.”

“...Confidence?”

“Alright,” Michael laughs and pecks Jeremy’s lips before standing and offering a hand down to help Jeremy up. “Let’s hit the hay, Mr. Confidence.”

***

_**February** _

“Yo, is your dad a witch or something? I swear to God I used to hate fudge,” Rich says, letting his head fall back and hit Jake’s chest as he talks, taking another piece of fudge and biting into it. “Fuck me _up,_ fudge.”

“Stop romancing the fudge,” Jake laughs, nudging Rich’s side. Brooke reaches up from her position on the floor and grabs a piece.

“Holy shit? Why has he never made fudge before? This is really good, props to your dad, Jeremy,” she compliments and Jeremy laughs.

“Honestly, his dad is great.” Michael nudges Jeremy and smiles. “He somehow has a way of making the food I hate taste incredible.”

“Are you trying to sweet talk your future father-in-law?” Mr. Heere walks in, smiling and carrying a bowl of popcorn. “Because it’s working.”

“Dad, _why?”_ Jeremy whines, face red, along with Michael next to him, who seems to be unable to form words.

“It’s my job as your dad to embarrass my kid. For example, if Rich was my kid, I’d look at him and Jake and say something like ‘Please, not on my good couch’, but he isn’t my kid, so I won’t say that.”

Jake’s face had flushed by that point and Rich grins. “Don’t worry, Mr. Heere, we won’t!”

He smiles and nods before walking back into the kitchen. Jeremy gets up after a bit and walks into the kitchen himself, sitting on a stool by the counter. His dad looks up from the cookbook and smiles over at him.

“Thank you for cooking for all of us and everything,” Jeremy says and his dad waves his hand as if to say “don’t worry about it”.

“You know, it is cool that you found a hobby that you’re good at.”

“Is that a jab at my attempt at knitting?” his dad asks and Jeremy barks out a laugh he was holding in. “You love the scarf I made for you, and you know it!”

“Okay, okay,” he says between laughs, waving his hands. There’s a bit of silence until there’s an oddly Christine sounding scream from the living room followed by loud laughter. He and his dad exchange a look before they laugh. As they’re calming down, his dad clears his throat.

“I… I have a date tomorrow,” he admits and Jeremy’s immediately interested.

_“Oh?”_ he asks and his dad smiles.

“Yeah. I invited my coworker out for coffee at two PM tomorrow and she said yes.”

“Wait, is that why you took up cooking? To impress a girl?”

“No!”

“Now I see who I got my romantic abilities from.” Jeremy leans forward and grins. “Are you gonna bake her a cake?”

“You come into _my_ kitchen, seemingly to thank me, but then make fun of me-”

Jeremy cuts him off with a laugh, and another shout comes from the living room. “I’m just kidding. I’m happy for you, seriously.”

“... So you’re not going to react badly? I heard that most kids don’t like their parents dating.”

“Honestly? It doesn’t bother me,” he admits and shrugs. “More parents means more Christmas and birthday presents, and as a soon-to-be college student, I’m okay with that.”

His dad reaches over and ruffles his hair. “Thank you. Now go back out there and entertain your friends. I bet they’re missing you right now.”

Que a round of shouting.

“Do I really want to go back to that mess?”

“Considering you’re a part of that mess, I’d say yes.”

Jeremy’s grin widens. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

***

_April_

“Guess who asked out Brooke,” Chloe randomly says during the commercials before the movie starts and Michael nearly chokes on a piece of popcorn.

“You?” he asks and glances over. Her avoiding eye contact and red face answer his question for him and he laughs. “It’s about you time you grew balls.”

“You know, if I kicked you in your balls _r_ _ight now_ , we’d see just how strong they are,’ she threatens and Michael shudders.

“Please don’t, I want kids.”

“...You’re gay. That’s physically impossible.”

“So are you!” he argues and she nods. “How’d you do it?”

“Doorbell ditched her. I put a rose on her doorstep with a note attached that said: ‘Someone really likes you, and that’s me. I heard you like frozen yogurt, so go to Pinkberry at six PM and look for someone with a white rose.’ She showed up, she returned my feelings, we ate yogurt and kissed.”

“What a romantic, I’m swooning.” Michael fans himself and Chloe lightly punches his arm. “What if one of her parents had seen it?”

“Dear God, I’m glad they didn’t. Her parents are a special kind of strict; Brooke’s not supposed to date until she graduates college, so, she hides a lot from them.” Chloe shoves a handful of popcorn into her mouth and talks with it in her mouth. “They would’ve gone instead of her, found me, and probably beat me up or something.”

“What if I… took out my phone, and took a picture of you talking with a mouthful of popcorn and sent it to the group chat.”

Chloe looked panicked and hid her face. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten the ‘fighting in stilettos’ conversation, Mell!”

Michael burst out laughing and Chloe slowly lowered her hands and joined the laughing. The lights began to dim and they got quieter as the movie began.

“Seriously though, I’m happy for you,” Michael whispers and she hums.

“I’m happy for you too.” Chloe eats another piece of popcorn. “You and Jeremy really love each other, huh?”

“Yeah. Being a teenager in love is crazy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Chloe nods to agree and they both settle back in their seats, their attention now focused on the screen.

***

**_August_ **

The warm wind rustled the trees and the stars twinkled brightly in the sky. There were few, but it was still making a pretty contrast against the dark, dark sky. Jeremy made a pillow for his head on Michael’s stomach, closing his eyes and just listening to the music that plays quietly from the car’s speaker. _Thanks again, Jake,_ he thinks, thankful that they got to borrow his truck.

Michael’s hands in his hair lightly tap his head and Jeremy turns his head to look at Michael, who is just looking at the sky.

“I leave to go get settled in my dorm in a few days, you know,” he near whispers, and Jeremy figures he doesn’t want to break the atmosphere.

“I know. I’m… not looking forward to it,” Jeremy replies, sighing.

“Neither am I. Who will get on my case about eating blueberries at college?”

Jeremy sits up, and dramatically proclaims, “They’re disgusting! And suspicious; have you seen that they’re _three_ different colors at once?”

Michael bursts out laughing as he sits up, pulling Jeremy into his lap. “Oh my God, you’re such a dork.”

Jeremy huffs and Michael’s laughing doesn’t cease. “Don’t worry, babe, I’ll make sure to send you a picture of myself whenever I eat blueberries.”

“I’ll break up with you,” Jeremy threatens and flicks Michael’s nose.

“You’re bluffing,” Michael points out and Jeremy folds his arms but doesn’t say anything. Michael tightens his arms around him, his facial expression going serious. “I’m seriously going to miss you a helluva lot, Jere-bear.”

“Same here. At least we’ll have skype and holidays.”

Jeremy’s attempt at lightening the mood goes mostly unnoticed. “I guess. I’m going to miss touching you, and kissing you, and just everyone in general. I never thought I’d say I’m going to miss this town, but I really am.”

“Me either.” Jeremy runs his hands down Michael’s arms and he feels one of his biggest fears about college bubbling up. “You’re going to get mad at me for saying this-”

“False-”

“-but what if you get bored of me because we’re not there together?”

“That’s literally impossible. And I am a bit mad at you for even thinking that,” Michael reassures, tightening his hold even more. “I’m never going to let go of you. This isn’t some sit com where I’ll see a pretty girl and go ‘Oh wow, I’m gay but that sure is a cute girl’ and try to pursue her. I’ve already have you, and I’m not letting you go.”

“Cheeseball,” Jeremy comments, a smile lighting up his face and Michael continues.

“You're the one who said we're more the just high school sweethearts, Jeremy.” Michael brushes the hair out of his face. “I intend to stay that way, even though I'm not the next town over anymore.”

Jeremy's grinning by that point and Michael's thumbs run over the skin just beneath his eyes. “Are you going to cry?”

Jeremy laughs and grabs Michael's face to pull him in for a kiss. It's messy and really rather bad of a kiss. They're both smiling into it so it ends sooner than Jeremy expected, but he's okay with that. He'd say that it's one of the best kisses he had ever had.

“I love you, Michael.”

“I love you too, Jeremy.”

Jeremy pulls away and looks at Michael as if he hung the stars in the sky that night. A silence develops, only broken by the soft crackling of the stereo, until Jeremy says something.

“Do you want to head home for the night? My dad's probably freaking out over where we are,” he says and Michael nods. Jeremy stands up and offers a hand for Michael, them jumping out of the truck bed and entering the car.

Michael buckles his seatbelt and looks at Jeremy expectantly. “Video games, junk food, and music, right?”

“What else did you expect?” Jeremy leans over and kisses him again, slow and sweet before pulling away and flashing a grin as he buckles in. “Come on, let's go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teh end......
> 
> But no, seriously, thank you to everyone who joined me in this story, whether just reading it, leaving kudos, or comments. I love you all, and I can't wait to write another story like this one.   
> For now, however, I'm probably going to take a small break from writing (not a very strong probably). If you'd like to leave requests for what I should write next, you should do that :D!!  
> In the end, thank you all, I love you all, and stay incredible !!!


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